A Psyduck Phenomenon!
by Rebekah Matthews
Summary: After his adventure in Kalos, Ash returns to Kanto with many things on his mind and visits Misty in Cerulean City. He finds her worried over Psyduck, and neither of their efforts help. Naturally, Misty gets frustrated and Ash wastes no time coming after her. He remembers telling Max that a good friend left him and he misses her everyday. He decided that he won't feel that again.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: Hello, lovelies! I'd appreciate lots of reviews, as always. They're invaluable to writers, so please help me grow! I hope you enjoy my latest story - R

Chapter 1

Ash stared out of the plane window, lost in thought. It had been an unexpected couple of years for him since he first set out on his journey, so many ups and downs, wins and losses, but most of all friendships. After visiting seven regions, he had come full circle and found himself on his way back to Kanto after his adventure in Kalos.

_Kalos._

He pulled his cap off his head and raked his fingers through his wild, ebony hair. He brought his hand down to his mouth and gently pinched his lips between his thumb and forefinger, the memory tattooed on his mind. Unforgettable. He sighed, looking at the seat next to him where Pikachu lay curled up asleep. He stroked his fur gently, feeling the hint of a purr rumble in the little mouse. He smiled fondly at his companion and turned to look back out of the window.

As always, he returned to Kanto to visit his mother, as promised after each adventure. Honestly, he looked forward to the prospect of home. He thrived on the challenges and experience that he gained while exploring different regions. It wasn't half as lonely as he once thought it would be. He was always surrounded by friends. He only once had that initial panic before starting his journey. It was the day before he was to choose his starter Pokémon and though the excitement and anticipation was overwhelming that he couldn't sleep, the anxiety also raced through his mind. Though Ash was an apparent extrovert and confident young lad growing up, there was always that part of him that he kept hidden. Gary, his old childhood friend, so full of confidence and boastful remarks, shot off on his journey and Ash felt left behind. And that determination motivated him to race after him, beginning his journey with a stubborn Pikachu and no experience in the Pokéworld.

He was 18 now and a highly experienced trainer. However, Ash's aspirations to be a Pokémon master was still high on his agenda and there was still a way to go. Kalos only proved that to him. He'd been on the cusp of victory on so many occasions that he knew he had a bit more to go before he could be the best. Yet, there were three particular memories of failing that stuck in his mind: when he came in the top 16 at the Indigo Plateau, the three challenges it took to defeat Brandon in the Battle Frontier and his loss against Wulfric the Snowbelle gym leader. Each of these were reminders of how hard he had to keep working and persevering. Each of these were hard reminders of the choking emotions that took a hold of him. And it took very different approaches from the people near and dear to him to get him through those moments.

His battles with Brandon were a lesson on everything he ever thought he knew about Pokémon battles. It presented a challenge for him to evaluate himself and grow. It was something he had to figure out by himself. For all that, Misty was the first to witness what failure did to Ash. Though young at the Indigo Plateau, it hurt to lose, and he had no idea how to handle that. Misty came in like a wrecking ball and sternly gave him brutal honesty that he wasn't his best self. He never forgot it. His loss against Wulfric hit him hard. He'd never felt depression like that before. He felt like he'd let down his Pokémon, despite the training, hard work and effort. He'd all but completely given up, the questions filling his head whether he was good enough. Then soft, gentle, lovely Serena hit him square in the face with a snowball. The words that followed shocked him more than the snowball in the face: 'you're not acting like the Ash I know. Stop! Give me back the real Ash because you sure aren't him!'

For all these revelations, Ash continued to grow, and he owed his friends that. He just didn't know that he made such an impact on them, too. Serena vowed to be better, especially for Ash the next time they meet, leaving him with a parting gift. This parting gift had been on his mind far more than he was willing to admit. He refocused his eyes on the view out of the plane window and smiled at the familiar sight of Kanto.

Misty scrubbed at the poolside with extra elbow grease. Her nose was wrinkled up as she attempted to clean up the messy leftovers of a battle. Her challenger had used a Muk and the remnants of its time at the pool were impossible to ignore. She heard footsteps enter the arena and she looked up.

"Phew," Tracey exclaimed, waving his hands in front of his face, his nose wrinkling up just like Misty's, "what is that awful smell?"

"A Muk," she said flatly, reaching over for a sponge and throwing it at him.

Tracey caught the sponge and frowned, raising an eyebrow. "Is this an invitation to help you?"

"No," she replied tartly, "it's an order to help me."

Tracey pouted, rolling his eyes and made his way over to get down on the floor tiles and started scrubbing.

"Hey, you haven't seen Psyduck, have you?" Misty suddenly piped up.

"No, why?"

Misty sat back on the balls of her feet, chucking the sponge in the bucket of soapy water and sighed. "He's just been… _off_ lately. I don't know what's up with him."

Tracey stopped scrubbing and looked up at her. "What do you mean by 'off'?"

"He's been such a pain," she replied lamely.

Tracey frowned, unimpressed. "How is that any different to the usual?"

"Okay," Misty's face brightened, an example suddenly dawning on her, "get this: he'll run off if he finds I have a male challenger."

"He doesn't exactly thrive in the battle arena, though," Tracey pointed out, "particularly in water."

"No, you're right there," she sighed, her chin resting on her hand. "He's also been really quiet. He's not acting his usual self."

"Careful," Tracey chuckled. "You almost sound like you care."

Misty swotted him across the shoulder with a glare. "_Of course, I care!_" she emphasised. "Just because he's useless and a complete nuisance, doesn't mean I disregard him." She considered Tracey a moment. "Do you think you'd be willing to give him a look over?"

"If it gets me out of scrubbing this mess up, then yes!" he replied, immediately jumping up, then promptly slid on the Muk remnants on the greasy tiles and landed with a large splash in the pool.

Misty's hand clamped around her mouth as she attempted to stifle the resulting giggle that rose within her.

Ash rubbed his chest absentmindedly as he stood listening to Professor Oak and Delia Ketchum wittering away with each other. In her excitement, Bayleef had run at him full pelt in her haste to greet her beloved trainer and knocked him to the ground. He had laughed it off and affectionately rubbed her head. He was always so careful about upsetting her as she was so sensitive when it came to him. He didn't mind that though. He knew, _now_, that Pokémon became very close to their trainers and in some cases, developed great affection with them, as is the case with Bayleef.

"So, Ash," Oak started, turning to look at the teen, "what do you plan to do while you're here?"

Ash shrugged. "Catch up with old friends."

At that moment, Gary Oak turned the corner and smirked at spotting Ash with his grandfather.

"Hey, Ash," he greeted him, folding his arms over his chest.

"Speaking of old friends," Ash nodded, "Gary."

"Another journey over already?" Gary asked, eyebrows raised.

Ash pressed his lips together and nodded his head once. Taking notice of the white lab coat that Gary was wearing, he couldn't help but comment. "Still not out battling then?"

"Nah," he shook his head. "I've rather taken to research."

"It runs in your blood, my boy!" Oak encouraged him fondly.

"So, where's Tracey?" Ash asked the professor.

"I expect he's over at the Cerulean City gym," he answered. "He goes over there a lot to help Misty out. Plus, he's rather taken to Politoed and he's checking up on Azurill, of course."

Ash gulped. _Misty_.

Gary looked at Ash out of the corner of his eye. "So…" he hedged, "seen anything of your other travelling companions since you were in Kalos?"

Ash choked on the chuckle that rose up his throat, then he coughed. "Not really. Kalos was kind of crazy. Bonnie and Clemont went back to the Lumiose gym, and Serena is competing in the Hoenn contests now. In Unova, I met back up with Dawn who was staying with Cynthia in Undella Town."

Ash deliberately left it there, anticipating the usual awkward question that came from Gary.

"Oh?" Gary inevitably responded, "a-and what is she up to these days?"

Ash inwardly rolled his eyes at his usual stuttering when it came to Dawn.

"She's still in Hoenn last time we spoke over the phone," Ash said. "Apparently, she's got her third ribbon now."

"Ah, good for her," Gary nodded, a slight smile at the corner of his mouth.

"Are you planning to go over to see Misty and Tracey, dear?" Delia asked her son, completely oblivious to Gary's odd behaviour. "It'd be nice if we could have dinner together."

Ash looked at his mother and smiled, seeing the eagerness in her face. "Yes, mom," he answered. "I'm sure I can spare time so we can eat together."

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree decorated from top to bottom in lights.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: please, leave reviews - thoughts, comments and criticism would all be welcome! I hope you enjoy this update!

Chapter 2

"What is wrong with you, you dumb duck?!" Misty yelled in frustration.

Tracey bit his lip, his eyes darting between Misty and Psyduck. Misty was holding her hands on either side of her temple, rubbing at them absently as if she was trying to keep a headache at bay. Her face was full of frustration but underneath, Tracey knew it was also concern.

"Look, Misty," he hedged, "I said there's nothing wrong with him physically. That's not to say there might not be some underlying cause for why Psyduck isn't himself."

Misty eyed Psyduck from her peripheral vision and sighed. "Well, what do you think it is then?" she asked impatiently. "His eating is off, he's distant, more useless than ever at battling, he refuses to go against male opponents completely and he doesn't bother jumping out of his Pokeball at the most inconvenient moments."

Tracey had learned so much from being under Professor Oak's tutelage. It was a literal dream come true for him to settle in at Oak's lab in Pallet Town, the perfect place for him to learn under his idol. Being an assistant to Professor Oak taught him so much more about Pokémon and the observations that he gathers from sketching and looking after them.

"It's likely he's just depressed," he replied matter-of-factly.

"What do you mean _depressed_?" Misty asked blankly, glancing at Psyduck who was attempting to make his way off the table.

"He's got the blues," Tracey elaborated.

"What on Earth for?" Misty said in exasperation. "He has everything he needs here with me."

"Misty," Tracey said wearily, "Pokémon are said to have human traits and characteristics. Sometimes they even adopt their trainer's strengths, feelings and personality."

"Yes, I know that," Misty sighed, "but I don't have the blues, so I don't understand how I can help him."

"There must be something going on that Psyduck has picked up on," Tracey observed.

"How would be pick up on something that I'm not aware of?" Misty raised an eyebrow.

"Well, Psyduck has psychic traits and abilities so it wouldn't be totally strange that he's feeling something, and your other water Pokémon aren't," Tracey reasoned.

Misty blew air into her cheek and watched Psyduck flounce out of the room. She looked back at Tracey uncertainly.

"We'd best get back to scrubbing the gym," she said reluctantly. "I can't imagine Daisy got very far."

Tracey blinked and pulled his lips into a strained smile.

Ash put his knife and fork down on his plate as he finished eating his dinner. Delia sat across from him and beamed. It was always a compliment to her when she saw an empty plate. She couldn't help the smile radiating out of her because she had her son eating dinner with her. It had been such a long time. She got up and swept up his plate, putting it into the warm, soapy water in the sink.

"Thanks, mom," Ash smiled.

"No problem, dear," she replied warmly, turning to roll up her sleeves. Her eyebrows shot up into her hairline in surprise when she saw Ash's arm come into view and take the tea towel into his hand. She looked at him in question.

"I'll help you," he offered, swotting Mr Mime away. Mimey protested angrily causing Ash to frown down at him in irritation.

"It's okay, Mimey," Delia said to her dear Pokémon fondly.

Mimey nodded and walked off to find another chore to do. Ash watched him go and turned to his mother.

"Mimey is rather testy," he observed.

"He likes to be helpful," she replied, turning to the dishes. After a pause, she shot a look at the ready and waiting towel in Ash's hand. "I didn't know you were so keen to do dishes."

"My journey was more than Pokémon battles," Ash admitted.

"Oh, really?" Delia said absently, her hand pausing on the dishes in the warm, soapy water.

"It was…" Ash considered the right word, "intense." That word seemed accurate enough.

Delia turned, handed a plate to Ash to dry, frowning up at him. When did he get so tall?

"Well, obviously there was that whole thing with Team Flare," Ash elaborated, aware as Delia visibly tensed. He knew how she worried about him, what with all the situations he ended up in. He swept up another dish and quickly dried it off, moving on. "But I also got so much stronger. My pokémon are so much stronger, too. The battles were insane, but in a really good way. It was challenging and thrilling. We won battle after battle, but there were losses too." His mind instantly went back to that battle against Wulfric. He shook off the memory. "We made a lot of friends on our journey. And I don't know." Ash paused, slowly wiping his towel over the damp pan in his hand. "I guess even that was different."

Delia turned to Ash. "How so?" Ash took the wet cutlery from Delia's hands and rubbed them in the towel to dry them off. "Ash?"

She watched him struggle with himself for a moment or two. She took the tea towel from his hands and set it down on the kitchen side.

"What is it? What's wrong?" Delia urged.

"Nothing's wrong," Ash assured her. "It's just that I spent my life being told that I was dense, and I just never realised. All I could think about was being a pokémon master and battles and getting stronger was all that mattered to me. My journey in Kalos… that's when it all changed." Delia watched his facial expression change.

"What changed?"

"When I was coming back from Kalos on the plane, I realised it was Serena," Ash continued, brushing past Delia to continue washing up for her as she listened.

"What happened?"

"I don't know how I missed it," he said, shaking his head. "It was always in front of me, but I was blind, until she left for Hoenn. She told me that she would be better, especially for me, the next time we meet." He looked at his mother and she understood.

"You don't share the same affection for her as she does for you," she deduced correctly.

"Does that make me a horrible person?" he smiled awkwardly.

"No," she assured him. "You could never be a horrible person, dear." She sighed. "You've gotten so tall since you've been away. You know, you remind me of your father."

"Why? Because I left you again?" he asked sarcastically.

"You know that wasn't your fault, Ash," she reminded him firmly. "And no. You've never been good at voicing yourself. When he was young, he was exactly like you, obsessed with winning. Until one day, he realised what was important and we married."

"Really?" Ash asked, his eyes widening.

"Yes, he came back," she nodded.

"But he left again," he replied flatly.

"You have his spirit, but you don't have his heart," she said softly.

"I don't know about that," Ash said uncertainly. "I feel rotten."

"You can't help who you fall for," she said as a matter of fact. "Serena may not be that girl for you."

"I've travelled with many friends over the years, but I've never felt the end of a journey like I did after my first journey in Kanto." Ash revisited the memory of sitting on the hilltop with Max by his side. _A good friend left me, and I miss her every day, but I know we'll always be friends forever._

"You're leaving again, aren't you?" Delia asked, knowing the answer.

Ash pulled the plug out of the sink, allowing the water to drain and he turned around with a faint smile at his lips.

"I won't be gone long," he promised.

"I just want you to be happy, Ash," she replied. "I sense you're missing something from your life."

"I love all my friends," he expressed, "I do. But I felt lost for so long after Brock and Misty left to pursue other things. It was after Serena kissed me that I felt my eyes open for the first time. I'm who I am because of that first journey."

"I forget how many years you've been travelling," Delia sighed. "You may be 18 but I still see that little boy running out in his pyjamas to get his first pokémon." Ash shook his head, chuckling at the memory. "Wait, Serena kissed you?"

"Like I said, intense," Ash blushed delicately, taken aback.

Tracey collapsed on the floor and let out a huge sigh of relief. He visited Cerulean City frequently to help out Misty but somehow, he always ended up assisting her in the gym as her sisters were still as useless as ever. He never volunteered because Misty always fired orders at him first before he had the choice. Yet, at Professor Oak's laboratory, there was easily a lot more to do, what with the hundreds of pokémon that lived there in the grounds. The challengers at Cerulean Gym came in larger numbers these days, hoping to challenge the gym leader as Misty got stronger and hence, more appealing to trainers. It had considerably raised in the ranks since Misty gained control over her Gyarados and had since been adding to her water pokémon collection. The increasing population of water pokémon intrigued Tracey so he found himself over here more and more. The downside was he spent more time scrubbing the gym than hanging out with her pokémon.

"You'll be pleased to know that no more challengers are scheduled to come in for the rest of the week," Misty piped up, interrupting his thoughts.

He sat up, noticing that Misty was out of her usual gym leader attire and instead in her swimsuit. "For the rest of the week? That's unusual."

"The pokémon need to rest," she stated, sitting down at the poolside, letting her legs drop into the water. After a moment, she turned to Tracey and said, "Psyduck has taken to refusing to battle at all now."

Tracey bit his lip. "That's unfortunate," he replied, as Misty pushed herself off the poolside and disappeared under the water.

He watched her do a few lengths around the pool, looking like she was more a part of the water than a swimmer keen to work against the water. She kicked off and made her way back to his side of the pool and put her arms on the poolside.

"What did Nurse Joy have to say?" he asked.

"She said he was fine, at least physically," she replied with a loaded sigh. "I asked if it was possible that he was getting ready to evolve and she said it wasn't likely as he's never been much of a battler and now, he's avoiding it altogether."

"Unfortunately, I'd have to agree with that," Tracey mused.

"I can help," offered a familiar voice from the doorway.

Both Tracey and Misty's heads shot towards the open doorway to the gym's arena to find Ash standing there with Pikachu on his shoulder, giving them both a sense of déja vu. Pikachu then leapt off Ash's shoulder and ran towards Tracey and Misty in greeting. Misty's eyes lit up and she effortlessly leapt out of the water, catching Pikachu in her arms and giving him a gentle squeeze. He then leapt down to greet Tracey. Misty ran towards Ash and threw her arms around his neck and her legs around his torso and furiously hugged him, knocking the breath out of him.

"It's good to see you guys," he choked out.


	3. Chapter 3

Author's notes: Please leave reviews! I hope you enjoy it!

Chapter 3

"Hi, Ash!" Tracey called over from the poolside. "How have you been, Pikachu?" He scratched behind Pikachu's ear as the little yellow mouse purred in response.

"It's been a long time, Ketchum!" Misty squealed down his ear, almost accusing.

She felt Ash's arms tighten round her waist and he subconsciously let his face fall into the crook of her neck as he responded to her hug.

"Must be about four years," he murmured. His eyes shot open. "Mist, you've soaked my clothes."

She leant back from her position sat on his hips and she looked at the clear patches of water covering his shirt. She jumped down so her feet were firmly on the floor and noted his jeans were sporting some serious deep blue shading. She rolled her eyes and leant over for a towel, throwing it at him.

"What are you doing in Cerulean City, Ash?" Tracey asked, getting to his feet to slap Ash on the shoulder as way of official greeting.

"It's been a while," Ash shrugged. "I don't have any plans, so I thought I'd stick around for a while. I'd say mom loved that idea, but I left Pallet Town to come here for a bit."

"I guess she's used to it by now," Tracey reasoned. "Besides, she's always up at the lab visiting Professor Oak."

Ash smiled. "Professor Oak's a good friend for her."

Tracey smirked. "He sure is." Misty bit her lip to hide the grin rising at the corners of her mouth. Naturally, this went over Ash's head.

"Have you guys seen Brock these days?" Ash asked, petting Pikachu gently on the head as the electric Pokémon sat at his side.

Misty nodded. "We hear from him occasionally. He's halfway through his studies to officially qualify as a Pokémon doctor. He spends a lot of time gaining experience across various centres in the region. Sometimes he travels to other regions to work with other Pokémon not native to Kanto. I know he was in Johto a year ago."

Ash smiled fondly. "Johto. That takes me back." He caught Misty's eye and she looked into her lap, unable to stop the smile.

"I haven't spoken to him in a while," Tracey interrupted. "I wonder if he's back in Kanto yet."

"He doesn't tend to stay away from Kanto for more than a couple of months, so I expect so," Misty said, frowning at Pikachu who was pushing at Ash's jacket.

"What is it, Pikachu?"

"Pika," Pikachu urged, pushing at Ash's jacket.

Then Ash cottoned on. He reached down to his belt and took out his Pokéballs. "You want them out, buddy?" Pikachu nodded. Ash looked at Misty. "Do you mind if I let out my Pokémon?"

"Sure, unless you brought Snorlax," Misty said jokingly, but her eyes narrowed slightly regardless.

"Ha ha," he said flatly. "Actually, it'd be good if I could let Totodile out for a swim. Is that alright?"

Misty stared at him like he had two heads, or no brain, which the latter was probably more likely. "Ash, we're in a water gym."

"Right," Ash said blankly, shaking his head at his stupidity. "Come on out, Totodile!"

In a flash of light, Totodile appeared at the poolside and immediately started his usual happy dance. Tracey looked like he was in heaven and immediately reached for his sketchpad.

"Wow, a Totodile!" he exclaimed. "I have to draw this!"

"Some things never change," Ash chuckled.

"Evidently," Misty agreed, pointing to the exuberant Pokémon.

"I'll let the others out outside. I'm not sure they'd appreciate being let out in here." Ash turned to Misty. "Are all your Pokémon in their Pokéballs?"

"Yeah," she replied. "We've had some additions since you were last here. Wanna see?"

"Well, yeah!" Ash replied enthusiastically.

Misty bounced over to the shelves that held all of the gym's Pokémon and released them all out of their Pokéballs. Azurill immediately leapt into Misty's arms. Staryu, Starmie and Politoed momentarily appeared on the poolside before the star pokémon leapt into the water with ease while Politoed clapped his hands eagerly and followed them. Shelder settled on the bottom of the pool's floor and Corsola leapt off the side to glide through the water. Two Seaking and a Goldeen surfed the water in graceful circles avoiding the two Luvdisc following each other. Dewgong lazily lay at the poolside watching the young Seel dive in and out of the water. A Seadra expertly swum through the waves left behind by Gyarados who leapt out of the water and dived back in again with a roar.

"Wow!" Ash said in awe. "Is one of those Seaking your Goldeen, Misty?"

"Sure is!" she replied fondly. "She evolved during one of the shows my sisters put on. It made for a spectacular performance!"

Ash recognised that sparkly look in her eyes whenever she talked about water pokémon and he felt both a foreign and familiar feeling swell in his stomach. He knelt by the poolside and Seadra came forwards.

"Is this Horsea?"

Misty giggled. "That made for a funny battle against a challenger."

"Why?" Ash glanced at Tracey who was fully immersed in his sketch of Totodile who swum on his back happily.

"Challengers don't take too kindly to pokémon evolving during a battle," she explained. "Horsea wasn't doing too well against a Pichu but he evolved into a Seadra. I don't know whether that was because of sheer determination or not wanting to lose the battle but it happened, and the challenger was not happy. Anyway, I suggested he back out for Pichu's best interest, but he refused and Pichu lost. The challenger threw a fit and cutting a long story short, Seadra hit him with a water gun attack and he fell in the pool. I had no clue that he couldn't swim so Dewgong helped him to the surface. He threatened to sue the gym but instead got humiliated in court for wasting time." Misty shrugged. "It's totally fair for a pokémon to evolve during battle."

After a pause, Ash couldn't think how else to reply but with "wow."

"Yep," Misty nodded. "It's never boring here." She looked fondly down into the pool and pointed at the two delicate pink fish swimming around in the depths. "Meet Caserin and Luverin, two Luvdisc." Hearing their names, both of them nosed the surface. "Daisy and I obtained them here in Kanto. I don't really use them to battle with. They're very popular with the water shows."

"They're great," Ash complimented them, dipping his fingers in the water, feeling their scales brush against them. He stood up. "So, where's Psyduck? I heard you both talking about him when I arrived."

Immediately, Misty's face crumpled into a mix of upset and frustration. Tracey looked up.

"Don't ask," he warned.

"Another time then," Ash said, not pressing further. "Shall we go outside? Come meet the rest of the crew I brought with me."

"Let me change," Misty replied. "I'll follow you out in a second."

Ash and Tracey shot her the thumbs up and made their way out of the back of the gym.

Ash glanced at Tracey from the corner of his eye. "So, how come you're up here, Tracey? I always miss you when I visit home and Professor Oak always says you're here."

"Yes, I visit Misty a lot, usually to help her out with the gym or I'm observing her water pokémon. I've got some great sketches of some of her battles," he replied. "The Cerulean gym is really popular these days, most likely because of Gyarados. After Misty tamed it, he's just gotten so much stronger. Trainers really like a challenge, though they hate to lose. It is a conundrum."

"That sounds like my early days," Ash mused. They reached the grounds outside and sat on the grass. After another moments silence, Ash broke it. "So, how's my mom these days? Is she lonely?"

Tracey's eyebrows rose. He looked at Ash and saw a forlorn expression staring back at him through deep brown eyes. He sighed.

"Ash, she's fine," he assured him. "She visits us at the lab a lot. We also visit her down at the house. I believe she's going for a garden competition that's coming up."

"Good," Ash said, "good."

At that moment, Misty appeared in a sleeveless yellow hoody, navy shorts and maroon espadrilles. "Hi guys," she greeted them. Her hair was now dry and pinned back with two pins. Tracey released his Venonat and Scyther to do their own thing in the Sun, his Marill joining Azurill to play in the grass. Ash failed to react as he found something lodged in his throat, causing him to swallow and he stared at the red head calling after Azurill to be careful.

She spun around. "Are you going to release your Pokémon, Ash?"

He shook his head and released his remaining four Pokémon. Noctowl flew out of his Pokéball and perched onto a nearby branch, closing his eyes and went to sleep. Quilava leapt out of her Pokéball, ran round in a circle and lay down in the grass. To Misty and Tracey's surprise, a Gabite and Meganium joined the group.

"No way!" Tracey cried, leaping up. "Is this a Gabite?" He flew to the dragon Pokémon's side and examined him from all sides. Ash's eyebrows shot into his hair line, impressed with Gabite's patience. Thankfully his head biting habit had died upon his evolution.

"Sure is," Ash replied. "I caught him in Sinnoh as a Gible. He was quite a handful!"

Gabite growled gently in response. Tracey got out his notebook and started sketching Gabite, getting up close to get the details of his scales and colouring. Ash's eyes widened.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," he warned when Tracey made to coax Gabite's mouth open to see the details of his teeth.

"Why?"

Misty's hands shot to her mouth as a loud scream echoed through the gym grounds.

"That's why," Ash said through his teeth. "As a Gible he had this painful tendency to bite my head. It was out of affection… I think."

Misty looked horrified. "Are you able to train that Pokémon?"

"It's a challenge," Ash admitted, that fire in his eyes that Misty recognised. She smiled fondly at that look on his face. The beating wings of Butterfree made themselves known in her stomach. She shook it off and turned to the grass Pokémon nudging her face into Ash's shoulders.

"Is this Bayleef?" she wondered, lifting her hand up to stroke Meganium. Ash nodded. "She smells lovely." Misty admired the bright pink petals adorning her neck.

"She evolved when I came over to Professor Oak's lab to collect some Pokémon to come with me," he told her. "She really wanted to come and that feeling must have been so strong that she evolved." Meganium rubbed her head gently against Ash and he smiled at her warmly. "Thankfully she hasn't tackled me like when she first evolved."

Misty laughed. "I see she still holds a great deal of affection for you, Ash."

"Of course," Ash smirked, then added more seriously, "but we're in a better place now, aren't we, Meganium?" He stroked her nose and she purred under his touch.

"A better place?" Misty asked, ignoring Tracey's grunts of pain as he rubbed feeling back into his hands.

"I'm not 12 anymore," Ash shrugged. "I know Meganium really _likes_ me," he emphasised, "but neither of us are getting hurt by it anymore."

Misty had a faraway look in her eyes. _Neither of them gets hurt by the love between them anymore._


	4. Chapter 4

Author's note: Leave reviews - share your thoughts! Enjoy!

Chapter 4

"Seriously?" Tracey asked again down the phone, his eyes widened with excitement.

Misty wandered down the corridors surrounded by the various aquariums, following the sound of Tracey's voice. She turned the corner and into the main reception of the gym. Her head tilted to one side, not having a clue who Tracey was talking to.

"That's awesome!" Tracey exclaimed. "I can't wait." He paused, listening intently. "Yeah. Uh huh. Sure, I'll tell her. Ash is here, too." He listened for another moment then smiled a brilliant smile. "Tomorrow? Great! We'll see you then!" He hung up the phone.

Misty stood straight after leaning against the wall having heard half of the conversation and raised an eyebrow expectedly.

"That was Brock," Tracey informed her. "His ears must have been burning after we'd been talking about him. He's swinging by to visit as he's on his way to Professor Oak's lab to study some of the Pokémon there. He figured it'd be a good excuse to catch up on his way."

"Ah, that would be great," Misty smiled. "It's been so long since he's been around here."

"Where's Ash?"

"He's outside training," she replied, thumbing in the direction of the gym grounds. "Where else?"

"I'll go tell him Brock's coming," Tracey announced, making his way out.

Misty leapt in front of him. "No, I'll do it," she volunteered. "Do you mind looking for Psyduck? I haven't seen him since breakfast."

"Sure," Tracey nodded, bringing out a Pokéball and throwing it, "help me out Venonat!" In a flash of light, the bug and poison type Pokémon appeared and leapt up in the air in greeting. Misty shivered. She really didn't like bugs.

Misty twirled around and walked through the aquariums and outside. She looked around the grounds and frowned. She could see Noctowl in a deep sleep up in the trees. Quilava and Meganium were sunbathing in the brightest patch of grass available and she knew that Totodile was swimming laps in the pool with her other water Pokémon. Gabite looked up at Misty briefly and returned to digging holes in the ground. The only Pokémon that was missing was Pikachu and it was a rare thing for Ash to ever be without the little yellow mouse. She walked over to Meganium and rested on her knees.

"Hey, Meganium," she greeted, stroking her head gently. "Where's Ash? I thought he was training with you all."

Meganium simply shook her head and used her vines to point in a direction across the green. Misty looked up and could just about see a small, yellow dot in the distance and an unmistakable mess of ebony hair. She smiled delicately at Meganium and stood, staring out at the retreating figure of Ash.

Pikachu ran alongside Ash effortlessly thanks to the many hours of intense training he had been through with his master. He glanced up at Ash every now and then as they ran together along the green, choosing not to interrupt whatever was going through the young man's mind.

_I miss her every day._

Those words were going through Ash's head at a million miles per hour. He ran and ran, wanting – no, _needing_ – that thought to go away. He needed to outrun it. He could still feel her arms around his neck and her legs wrapped around his waist. His skin almost tingled with the feeling. Years had passed and yet, it was like no time had passed at all. As soon as he saw her in the pool, it was like time started again after a long pause. He'd been feeling lost since Brock and Misty had left to pursue their own lives. When he had met May and Max, Misty was still on his mind. Brock's presence was a welcome one, but it didn't fill that hole that was wide open, evident and raw.

He acted as a coach and mentor to both May and Dawn, but he wasn't what they needed, and he didn't need them. He loved them both as dear friends, but he saw something in them that he saw in himself. Drew brought out the winning coordinator in May. He made her better. She strived to be better. Dawn's confidence grew with Ash's friendship, but she had to travel alone and find herself. Ash was surprised to find his eyes opened after he had met up with Gary in the Sinnoh region and his childhood friend had met Dawn. He noticed immediately that Dawn's behaviour towards Gary endeared her to him. It was the first time Ash had seen Gary stumble over what to do with himself. In all honesty, it made him look a bit of an idiot which continued to make Ash smirk. He'd seen his new friends make strong connections with other trainers and he saw that in himself. He saw that in himself and Misty.

The problem that he was now facing was that he didn't know what this meant. What this meant for him and Misty. He'd been surprised to find that despite that once upon a time Misty stood taller than him, he now towered over her by a foot. He was shocked to realise how much time had passed him by without his favourite water pokémon trainer by his side. His adventures had been wild, incredible and… intense. And that brought him back to Kalos.

It hadn't been the first time that a girl had kissed him. Yet it was the first time he actually gave it any thought. It was in that moment that it all changed. He understood what Serena meant when she kissed him and what her parting words promised. In his junior years travelling, he knew he'd been naïve. He had no right or reason to entertain such thoughts or feelings. The first time he felt a sense of sadness that lasted and turned into a longing, was when Misty had left to be the gym leader of Cerulean City. He had just presumed that she and Brock would continue to travel with him, but perhaps it had been wishful thinking. He was happy for Serena when she left for Hoenn. It would be good for her.

He didn't know what was lying in wait for him and he didn't know where he would go next. But there was only one place that he had in mind. That was home. It was the first time he felt like he could breathe properly after his adventures in Kalos. Truthfully, it had left him shaken. Then his parting with Serena, Clemont and Bonnie had stirred up all sorts of feelings.

Ash stopped short, panting, his hands on his knees. He wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his wrist and straightened up. He looked down at Pikachu who was gazing up at him and he smiled. He crouched down and petted Pikachu fondly.

"You alright, buddy?" he asked him. Pikachu purred under his touch happily.

"I think it's time you got a shower, Ketchum," Misty's voice broke Ash's thoughts.

Ash looked up.

"Hey, Misty," he greeted her. "What's up?"

"I just came to find you," she said, "I thought you were training with your pokémon."

"I intended to, but it seemed unfair considering they wanted to rest in the sun," Ash reasoned, shrugging.

"Could you not extend the same courtesy to Pikachu?" Misty wondered, raising an eyebrow.

"He wanted to come along, didn't you, buddy?" Ash addressed his companion.

"Pika," Pikachu nodded.

"Anyway, I came over to let you know that Brock is visiting us tomorrow," Misty informed him.

"Oh, awesome!" Ash beamed. "It'll be just like old times."

Misty pressed her lips together in a small smile. She bent down to pet Pikachu then went for it and plonked herself on the grass. Pikachu leapt onto her lap and Misty smiled fondly down at him. Ash followed suit and sat next to her.

"So, what's next Mr Pokémon Master?" Misty asked after a moment of silence.

Ash sighed. "Honestly, I didn't think that far ahead," he admitted.

"You still haven't told me," Misty nudged him in the side, causing him to squirm as it tickled, "how was your journey in Kalos?"

Ash's eyebrows raised and he blew air into his left cheek. "I don't know what to tell you," he shrugged. "It was amazing. There are some great pokémon over there! There were a LOT of challenges and I had to do a LOT more training. We got stronger, didn't we, buddy?" He stroked Pikachu's side and continued. "I'm sure you saw the whole Team Flare saga on the news."

"It was impossible to miss," Misty nodded, pursing her lips. "Were you okay?"

Ash looked at her, making the mistake of looking into the depths of her cerulean blue orbs that made him feel like she was seeing right into his soul. He felt a delicate blush colour his cheeks and he looked away.

"It was hard leaving Greninja behind," he admitted. "But he's protecting Kalos and that's all I can ask for. I'm proud of him."

Misty sighed. She reached out and hesitated, leaving her hand hovering above his shoulder. She frowned and curled her fingers into a fist. The feeling was too strong to comfort him, so she let her hand rest on his shoulder, and she squeezed it gently.

"I'm sorry, Ash," she whispered.

He glanced at her. "It's okay," he assured her. "I'm just glad that whole thing is over. The end of my journey there just kind of confused my feelings over what to do next." He had a sudden flash of the first time Serena presented her new look. Her cut short hair that hung in delicate curls, a new outfit, complete with the blue ribbon he gave her. A new start.

"I can't boast such excitement here," Misty sad breezily.

Ash looked at her and laughed. "From what I hear from Tracey, you have enough to be getting on with!"

"Well, it's helpful to use him as hired help," she said shamelessly.

They both fell quiet, letting the whistles of Pidgey and Spearow fill the silence. The grass pokémon could be heard moving about the greenery, the breeze rustling the leaves.

"It's good to be home," Ash murmured.

Misty laughed. "You were home for like a day, then you came here!"

"Silly Misty," Ash grinned, "didn't anyone ever tell you that home is where your heart is?"

Misty blinked, watching him leap up and muttering something about a shower. She was acutely aware of Tracey passing Ash coming towards her across the green. She was unaware that Psyduck was nearby, sat behind a tree having been with Ash the entire time.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's note: I haven't edited this chapter so please leave me reviews and let me know what you think. I love receiving reviews so keep 'em coming!

Chapter 5

The morning came and Ash's eyes shot open. He sat upright in shock, letting his breathing slow with every tick of the clock on the wall. He looked round the room and realised that he was in one of the guest rooms in the Cerulean City gym and he was fine. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes, swinging his legs out from under the covers, letting his feet find the floor from his seated position. He looked down to see Pikachu still fast asleep by his side. He smiled fondly at his yellow companion. Pikachu was used to the lingering nightmares. Ash shook it off and stood to look out of the window. It was a bright, sunny day. The grass Pokémon were lounging about in the greenery, the occasional water Pokémon making an appearance before leaping back into the lake and the Pidgey and Spearow made themselves known with their morning song.

Ash turned to his bag, still slung onto a nearby chair where he'd thrown it when he'd first entered the room late last night and retrieved a vest shirt and a pair of shorts. He threw them on, took a long drink of the now tepid water and immediately started his morning routine of calisthenics. Pikachu still hadn't moved in the past ten minutes that Ash had been working out to rid himself of his nightly thoughts, until a short, sharp knock at the door disturbed the silence.

"Ash?" Misty's voice sounded through the door, as the door timidly opened. Her head popped round the door, only to have the direct view of Ash from behind in the middle of doing press-ups. Her eyes widened, noticing the unmistakable muscles under his shirt, the strong shape of his arms and the firm shape of his bottom, tensed in the moment of the exercise. She gulped, promptly averting her eyes from her best friend's body. She cleared her throat, causing Ash to instantly shoot up onto his feet. The faintest hint of sweat was shining on his forehead, his cheeks flushed from being at floor level. Misty's blush however, had no such excuse. "I'm… I'm making breakfast. It'll be ready in 20 minutes if you want to join us," she stammered, hating herself for acting so spastic.

"Sure," Ash answered, wiping his brow with the heel of his hand, "thanks, Misty."

Misty's eyes caught his chocolate brown ones as he said her name. Even after all these years, she never forgot the colour of his eyes. His eyes always said what he didn't with his lips. The emotion held in his eyes were so powerful. Determination made his eyes shine and you knew to not get in his way. Sadness made his irises darken and the light was all but snuffed out. Excitement made him look ready to shoot fireworks right out of his pupils, but thankfully, that hadn't happened yet. Ash was always turned up to an eleven and he never did anything by half. That's what she missed about him.

"Misty?" Ash prompted, stepping forward, his hand outstretched to her.

Misty came to and ripped her eyes away from his gaze, stepping back from out of his reach.

"Sorry," she said, mentally shaking herself, "early mornings. I'll be downstairs with Tracey."

"Alright," Ash smiled, "see you in a few."

Misty shut the door behind her and leaned against in. Why was she being so spacey? She rolled her eyes at herself. It was just _Ash_. She swept down the hallways and disappeared into the kitchen ready to prepare breakfast.

Ash continued his morning workout for another 15 minutes then went for a shower, leaving the bedroom door open so that Pikachu could follow his stomach down to the kitchen for his breakfast. He brought a fresh towel in with him in the bathroom and threw his clothes off into a pile on the tiled floor. He let the steam fog up the windows, mirror and shower door as he stood under the piping hot water. He built up the suds in his dark hair, feeling it run off his body. He stared at the steamed-up glass door. He reached out with his index finger and spelled out Misty's name. He frowned, turning round to let the water wash over his face. Minutes later, he stepped out, momentarily cursing when he realised he'd left his clothes in his room.

"Ash has been a while," Tracey commented, pouring Pokéfood into the bowls for Azurill and Pikachu. "Did he fall asleep in the shower?"

Misty looked at him sceptically. "Unlikely with a stomach like his," she sighed. "I'll go get him."

She scratched Pikachu gently on the head on her way past and ran up the stairs two at a time. She came to the landing and turned down the corridor towards the bedrooms. "Hey, Ash," she called, "breakfast's getting cold."

She turned the corner to his bedroom which was right next to the bathroom and she collided with a strong, hard and wet figure. She toppled over and landed on the floor.

"Ow!" she complained, sitting up, rubbing at her elbows.

"Oh, God," Ash exclaimed. "Misty, are you okay?"

Misty continued to rub at her elbows, her eyes on the carpet. "No, I am not alright," she grumbled. "Landing on carpet really isn't as soft as you'd expect. Blimey, Ash, are you made of lead or something?"

Ash bit his lip to keep from laughing which dried up when Misty scowled up at him. Then her expression cleared, and her eyebrows raised, her eyes widening as she took him in. My God, he'd changed in the years they'd been apart. She felt a blush rise again in her cheeks for the second time this morning. Ash offered her a hand, but she ignored it and got up herself.

"Get dressed," she threw over her shoulder. "The food is getting cold!"

Ash looked down at himself and felt himself redden upon realising he'd just been standing in front of her dripping wet with only a towel around his waist. Well, talk about awkward.

He arrived in the kitchen minutes later, seeing Tracey sat at the table shovelling mouthfuls of cereal into his mouth while working on a sketch with the other hand. Misty was scrubbing hard at a pan in the sink. He could see her reflection in the window, and he could see the faintest frown on her face.

"Thanks for sorting Pikachu's breakfast out," he said to the general room.

Tracey looked up at him briefly and nodded in acknowledgement before returning to his drawing. Misty didn't acknowledge the thanks, but instead pushed at a plate at the side of her.

"Table," she said shortly.

Ash took the hint and took a plateful of crumpets to the table and immediately worked his way through them. Once he was halfway to finishing, he looked across the table at Tracey.

"So, when is Brock arriving?" Ash asked.

Misty turned round, a tea towel in her hands drying them off.

"I expect soon," she shrugged.

"What's with the morning work out?" Tracey asked absently, making a slight rubbing at his drawing.

Ash's eyes shot to Misty's face. "A habit," he replied, waving it away. "Kalos demanded more training. If my Pokémon needed training and worked hard, then so do I." Misty was taken aback, and her face appeared to show it. "What?" he asked.

"Nothing. Well, it's just a you weren't like that when we travelled together," came the contradictory answer.

"I grew up," Ash replied.

Misty's eyes widened. She had expected some form of temper tantrum and denial, rather than acknowledgement that she was right. Ash stood up, pushing his chair back, while swallowing his last mouthful. He swilled off his plate and left it on the draining board.

"I'm going to sit outside for a while," Ash announced. "Anyone want to join?"

"Sure, I will," Tracey nodded, getting up for a stretch. "There's some great Pokémon outside."

"I won't," Misty replied, "I'm going to go for a swim first. It'll be good to train my Pokémon for a little while, then they can have a rest."

"Cool," Ash smiled. "Want any help?"

"Another day," Misty promised. "It'll be good to get some practice in and you'll be able to see a real water Pokémon master at work!"

"Excuse me," Ash narrowed his eyes, "since when were you a water Pokémon master?"

Misty giggled inwardly at the memory of other times he'd asked that when they travelled together. She turned to walk out of the kitchen to head to the gym's pool with a roll of her eyes and threw over her shoulder, "since I have more wins than losses against challengers!"

"We'll see about that," Ash yelled in her direction. He distinctly heard a chuckle sound down the hall.

Tracey released his Venonat and Scyther from their respective pokéballs and they immediately went frolicking in the greenery. Ash released his Pokémon and Meganium immediately lay down next to Ash on the grass, her head resting next to his leg. Ash could distinctly smell the soothing, pretty scent that she gave off and he felt his head go clear after the rude awakening the nightmares had caused.

"Do you really need to sketch everything you see a Pokémon do?" Ash questioned Tracey, raising an eyebrow.

"A picture doesn't do them justice!" Tracey argued. "Look at the colours of the petals around Meganium's neck. They're just perfect."

"Yeah, she is," Ash agreed, gently stroking her head. He turned to look at Tracey and couldn't stop the next words from tumbling out of his mouth. "How come you're over here so much? When we left you to be Professor Oak's assistant, I thought you'd never leave again."

"Oh, well, Misty's sisters aren't very helpful, so I come by to help out Misty," he said. "And I don't know, Daisy's good fun, so I guess there's that incentive."

"So, you don't come by to hang out with Misty?" Ash probed further.

Tracey frowned. "What's up with you?"

"Does Misty know about you and Daisy?" he continued, ignoring the question.

"There's nothing to tell," Tracey shrugged, a faint blush evident on his cheeks. "She's great, but the sisters travel a lot for different things. We don't get much time to hang out, really." Tracey narrowed his eyes. "Since when do you ask about girls?"

"I'm not," Ash retorted. "Just wondered why you're not at the lab much."

"Right," Tracey nodded slowly. "She misses you, you know." Ash's head shot round to look at Tracey. "You and Brock," Tracey explained further. "It took a long time to feel okay with staying at the gym. It was a difficult transition for her."

"Yeah," Ash mused, his mouth down turning at the thought.

"What happened in Kalos?" Tracey wondered. "You never took notice of relationships before."

"Oh, Gary and Dawn have this thing," Ash laughed. "He turns into a blithering idiot, not quite like Brock but I've never seen him stutter so much than when he asks if I've spoken to her."

"I find that hard to imagine," Tracey snorted. "Gary's so much like the professor!"

"Well, believe it," Ash grinned.

Misty dried herself off and changed into her usual gym attire because it was so much easier to move in and made her way outside, with Totodile following close behind. He was happily following behind, every now and then doing his happy dance. She shook her head and smiled.

"You're so much like Ash," she told him fondly. At that compliment, Totodile leapt from the floor laughing again.

Misty crossed the threshold of the door that led outside and saw Ash sitting alone. She scanned the gym gardens and saw Tracey making his way to the lake to observe the water Pokémon lounging about there. Totodile rushed past her and then Ash, then Tracey and leapt into the lake with a small splash. Misty fell to the floor next to Ash and the smell of the pool enveloped his senses and he smiled.

"Pokémon good?" he asked.

She nodded. "Right as rain! Gyarados just gets stronger every day."

"You must use him when we battle," Ash urged.

"I wouldn't dream of using anyone else," Misty exclaimed. "How was the room?" She pushed the loose strands that fell over her face back with the bend of her wrist.

"Always better than camping outside," Ash reassured her.

"Don't we know it," Misty agreed. She pushed back at her hair again. She just rubbed it dry with a towel, but honestly, she needed to wash the pool out of her hair in order to train it.

"Here," Ash said spontaneously. He leaned forward and took the strands of hair and tucked them behind her ear, pushing them into her scalp gently. She looked at his face, as the breeze attempted to blow them out of her ponytail again and he looked into her cerulean blue eyes and smiled. "You need a hat. The wind can't play with your hair then."

"I'm not a hat person," she argued back in a quiet voice.

He whipped his hat off his head and put it on her. He firmly tucked the strands of hair behind her ear, the hat keeping it from being teased by the wind.

"It's so much more convenient, though," he grinned. Honestly, the sight of her wearing his trusty hat made feel him very hot and bothered. He could feel his heart racing at being so close to her. He didn't notice that he was leaning into her, but she wasn't moving away. His hand slowly moved to behind her neck and she felt her pulse race in response. All words failed her and all she felt was him beside her. The moment felt like a lifetime. One little push and there would be no space between them.

"And the trio is back together!" a familiar voice boomed across the garden. Brock.


	6. Chapter 6

Author's note: Thanks to all my reviewers so far - you rock. Please leave reviews - I really appreciate them! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 6

Ash and Misty started, but knocked heads in their surprise. They both winced and shook it off, looking up at a beaming Brock making his way towards them. Tracey leapt up at his arrival and immediately went up to him in greeting.

"Hey, Brock," Tracey waved, bumping his fist against Brock's.

"How's it going?" Brock asked, looking at Ash and Misty, who were getting to their feet. "It's good to see you guys. It's been far too long." He looked at Ash. "I'm was glad to hear you're in this neck of the woods. Last I heard you were in Kalos. When did you get back?"

"A few days ago," Ash replied.

"Liar," Misty coughed.

Ash scowled at her. Brock looked between the two in confusion.

"Did I miss something?"

"Oh please," Misty started, rolling her eyes. "He's been in Kanto like a day, then ditched Mrs Ketchum and came to Cerulean City."

"I didn't _ditch_ her!" Ash retorted.

"Yes, you're right," Misty replied seriously. "She's used to it by now."

"That's cold, Misty," Ash replied, pursing his lips.

"It's good to see you guys haven't changed," Brock grinned. His eye caught Tracey's, causing Tracey to bite his lip to keep the grin from showing.

"What brings you over here then, Brock?" Ash asked, ignoring his last statement.

"I finished my work in Johto and I made a fleeting call in Sinnoh for some hospital cover in a Pokémon centre, then I came back to Kanto just now," Brock answered. "What about you, Ash?"

"I haven't stayed in Kanto for a while and I'm not sure what I want to do next," Ash shrugged. "I went over to Professor Oak's lab to say hi to everyone, but of course Tracey was over here helping Misty, so I thought I'd visit."

"Well, I'm glad you did," Brock smiled, "it must be years since it was just us guys."

"Are you staying with us, Brock?" Misty asked him.

"Well, I was on my way to see Professor Oak actually, but, sure," Brock agreed, "I'll stay for a few days. Are you staying here too, Ash?"

"Sure am," he nodded. "I told mom I'd only be gone a couple of days so we can travel together back to Pallet Town then."

"Sounds like a plan," Brock approved. He glanced at Misty and then did a double take. "Um, Misty, why are you wearing Ash's hat? That's like his security blanket."

"Oh…" Misty started.

"It was windy, so I put it on her," Ash interrupted.

"That was… thoughtful," Brock said bemused. "Anyway, what have you guys been doing here?"

"Scrubbing the gym after unfortunate battles," Tracey answered sourly. He caught Misty's glare and added, "which was the highlight of my day, obviously."

"Yeah, nice save," Misty replied tartly.

"We've been training," Ash volunteered. "Well, we've been training separately."

"Wow, nothing _has_ changed!" Brock chuckled.

"Hey, speaking of which, how's Chansey doing these days?" Ash asked.

Brock raised his eyebrows. "She's always with me actually. I'll bring her out." He through his pokéball and in a flash of light, Chansey appeared in front of her.

"Chansey," she chimed in her delicate voice.

"Wow," Tracey exclaimed. "I must capture this!"

Brock blinked, watching Tracey capturing Chansey from all angles.

"Tracey hasn't changed either," Ash said flatly, causing Brock and Misty to burst out laughing.

"Chansey is shaping up to be an excellent Pokémon nurse," Brock informed them, looking at Chansey fondly. "She's helped me learn a lot on my travels in my studies."

"You've raised her so well, Brock," Tracey commented, throwing the compliment over his shoulder as he worked on his sketch.

"I remember her as a little Happiny," Ash mused. "She's a good Pokémon, Brock."

Azurill appeared behind Misty's leg, peering from behind her at the pink Pokémon. Misty looked down in surprise and crouched down.

"Why don't you say hi to Chansey, Azurill?" Misty suggested.

They watched as Azurill slowly went up to Chansey and stood in front of the caring Pokémon. Chansey greeted the little Pokémon cheerfully, immediately winning over Azurill. Ash, Brock and Misty smiled as Tracey rushed to capture the moment. Then Brock turned to Ash and Misty.

"So how are your Pokémon doing these days?"

At that moment, Meganium looked up and appeared at Ash's side. Ash looked fondly at his grass Pokémon and stroked the side of her neck.

"Whoa, is that Bayleef?" Brock asked, wide-eyed.

"Sure is!" Ash said proudly. "Only it's Meganium now."

Misty shook her head at Ash.

"I see she's still holding great affection for you, Ash," Brock commented.

"Why does everyone bring that up?" Ash grumbled under his breath.

"How's the gym holding up these days, Misty?" Brock asked, turning to her.

"Yeah, we're good," she replied. "The gym's gotten more popular as our collection of water Pokémon grows and we're getting stronger, especially with Gyarados." She sighed.

"I'm sensing a 'but'," Brock said, raising an eyebrow.

"It's Psyduck," Tracey butted in.

"Why?" Brock asked, interested.

"Apparently he won't battle anymore," Ash put in.

"And his behaviour's a little off," Tracey contributed.

"Excuse me, Dr Ketchum and Dr Sketchit," Misty interrupted. "Do you mind?"

They both looked at her and shrugged, wordlessly telling her to continue then. She glared at them and turned to the Doctor-in-training.

"Yes, he's refusing to battle, but more so male challengers. I didn't notice at first but here, we keep a record of challengers and I looked back and saw the pattern," Misty explained. "I thought that was odd. Now he's a pain when it comes to mealtimes, like he feels off and prefers to eat at other times when he chooses to. He spends more time alone. He doesn't jump out of his pokéball at inconvenient times. He's just not himself."

All three guys noted the frustration and upset on Misty's face and they looked at each other.

"I'll look at him for you," Brock offered.

"Tracey already did that," Misty told him.

"He's no doctor," Brock replied.

"Neither are you," Misty blurted out.

Brock looked offended. "Doctor in training, thank you!"

"Yeah, in training," Misty pointed out.

"Do you want me to look at Psyduck or not?" Brock frowned.

Misty pressed her lips together, looking apologetic. "I'm sorry, Brock. That was unnecessary. If you can, please."

Brock nodded.

Ash and Tracey followed Brock into the gym, while Misty dashed upstairs to take a shower. They eventually found Psyduck upstairs, oddly in Ash's temporary room. They each felt puzzled but nevertheless coaxed Psyduck to join them downstairs. Brock had Chansey assist him while he worked on Psyduck, giving him the full physical and doing multiple tests. Brock sat back on a high stool helplessly, glancing between Ash and Tracey.

"There's nothing physically wrong with Psyduck," he told them. "And I see no indication that he's going to evolve anytime soon."

Ash and Tracey looked at each other, daring the other to tell Misty.

Misty watched the heat of the shower steam up the room as she felt the suds from her shampoo roll off her shoulders down her body, washing down the drain. She looked down with a sigh and frowned at the shower door. She saw her own name written on the door, made visible with the steam. She knew Ash was the last person to use the shower so why was he writing her name in a steamed-up door? She reached out tentatively and wrote his name above her own. She felt the Butterfrees fluttering in her stomach, making her feel that nervous thrill when she saw their names coupled together.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's note: Two chapters in a weekend - that's a rare occurrence; your reviews inspired more writing! Please leave me more reviews.

Chapter 7

Ash and Brock sat on the grass outside watching their Pokémon play with each other in the sun and catching up after so long apart. Tracey lost the game of rock, paper, scissors and had the honour of giving the results of Psyduck's check up to Misty. They decided to stay out of the way as they suspected Misty may blow up at the news. However, they knew she wanted to get some official gym paperwork done in the afternoon before they ate so they took the opportunity to catch up.

"How is doctor training going then, Brock?" Ash asked.

"Surprisingly well," Brock replied honestly. "I don't know why I never considered it as a career path before. It certainly helps having Chansey as my assistant. I've learned so much over the years and about so many Pokémon over the regions."

"Yeah, it's a shame you couldn't have joined me on my journey through Unova and Kalos," Ash sighed. "They were awesome!"

"I gathered that," Brock smiled. "Your Pokémon look stronger than ever. I must say I'm really impressed with your Gabite."

"Yeah, he's really come a long way," Ash said proudly. "I'm aiming to challenge Cynthia once we get even stronger. Her Garchomp is a fierce opponent and I can't wait to have a fighting chance against her."

Brock considered his young friend for a moment, the strong determination evident on his face.

"In so many ways, you're different, Ash," Brock said matter-of-factly. "You're still _Ash_ but you've also grown."

"Age does that, I suppose," Ash replied, the statement going completely over his head.

"No," Brock said, shaking his head, "you misunderstand me. You're a lot stronger. I can see it." He glanced at the Pokémon and nodded to them. "Did you know that Pokémon take on similar traits that their trainer has?"

"Yeah?"

"You're so close with your Pokémon," Brock continued, "so they will feel as you do. Haven't you ever noticed that when you get psyched up for a battle, they do too? Or when you have a rival, they also want to defeat them? They're down to do anything you want to do without question." He slyly looked at Ash out of the corner of his eye. "Of course, it goes without saying that when you're really fond of someone, your Pokémon are too."

"What?" Ash asked, eyebrows raised.

"Pikachu is a great example," Brock nodded. "He loves Misty!"

"That doesn't mean I do!" Ash retorted hotly.

"Oh yeah?" Brock challenged, raising one eyebrow. "So how come you came here rather than staying in Pallet Town with your mom, Gary and Professor Oak?"

"I was there," Ash defended himself.

"And now you're here," Brock pushed.

"It's just been a long time," Ash shrugged. "It wasn't really the same after you guys left."

"And you sought out Misty and not me?" Brock questioned, placing a hand flat on his chest. "I'm hurt."

"Oi," Ash elbowed him. "We both know that you're off travelling to various places in training."

"I'm just kidding," Brock grinned. "So, what's going on with you two anyway?"

Ash looked at him incredulously. "Nothing, honestly! Why do you ask that?"

"I don't know," Brock shrugged. "Maybe I was wrong, but I thought you came here to see Misty."

"I did."

"And that's all?" Brock challenged him.

"What else is there?" Ash asked.

"I don't know, maybe eight years of friendship," Brock suggested.

"Isn't that what there is?" Ash asked confused.

"It's nice to see you're just as dense as ever," Brock commented, slapping him on the shoulder. "Have I taught you nothing?"

"Yes," Ash said flatly, "don't chase girls. It gets you nowhere."

At this, Brock bit his lip, trying his hardest to prevent the laughter from bursting out of him.

"What's going on with your face?" Ash frowned.

"It's just my journey has been a _little_ more interesting than I let on…" Brock smirked.

"Alright, go on," Ash urged.

"Well, I kind of couldn't help myself the first day of class, as I'm sure you can imagine," Brock started. Ash nodded, rolling his eyes, chuckling. "There was this girl in my class, and she was b-e-a-u-tiful! Honestly, I don't think my serenade did her justice."

"Hold it," Ash interrupted, "you _serenaded_ her?!"

"I've done worse!" Brock defended himself.

"Oh, dear God," Ash muttered under his breath. "Alright, go on."

"Well, to be honest, in hindsight it was probably a bit much," Brock went on. "She avoided me for six months," Ash's eyes widened, "and then, we all had time away studying at different hospitals and she happened to be at my placement in Johto, which is quite possibly one of the reasons I was there so long. Thanks to Croagunk, who I had with me at the time, kept me in line so I reined it in and we got talking. Turns out she's a cousin of the Nurse Joy family and we have a lot in common. We eventually went out on a date and we're still together to this day on a casual basis as we travel across regions a lot."

"Wow," Ash said, for lack of anything else coming to mind. "I didn't expect you to have a girlfriend."

Brock had the good grace to blush gently at that, not really having heard that out loud. "Well, I'm not sure if we're really _official_ but it's new."

"There's only one person I ever saw you not hit on and that's Misty," Ash snorted.

Brock stared at him like he had two heads. "You seriously don't know why I didn't?"

"She's terrifying?"

"Wow, Ash, you're dumb," Brock shook his head, laughing.

"Tracey, do you mind letting all the Pokémon out into the pool?" Misty asked, walking into the gym arena with her hands clasping piles of paper.

"Sure," Tracey nodded. He pointed to her handfuls of paper in her grasp. "What's all that?"

"Oh, it's all the details on the Pokémon here at the gym," she told him. "I was just looking at when the evolved Pokémon evolved and at what point after the expected level of evolution they evolved. I'm just wondering about Psyduck."

"Oh, right?" Tracey replied, walking over to where all the Pokéballs were kept, releasing them into the water one by one.

"Well, Psyduck is at a surprisingly high level considering he's not really much of a battler," she continued. "But he's really powerful, so he does have potential to evolve. The problem is he's not showing any signs of evolving any time soon."

"What do you think it is then?" Tracey asked, bending down to pat Politoed on the head.

"Hmm, I can't be sure," she mused. "I'm wondering if he's just unhappy, though I'm beginning to wonder why he'd be unhappy."

"Well, I suppose he can't tell us," Tracey replied. "Anyway, as you know I'll be going back to Pallet Town at the end of week, and I presume Ash and Brock will join me, will you join us?"

Misty stopped flicking through the pages in her hands and looked up at Tracey through her lashes, then she lifted her head up to stare at him head on. She puffed air into her cheeks and exhaled.

"I don't know," she shrugged, shaking her head gently. "I honestly didn't think about it." Obviously, she was lying through the skin of her teeth. "The gym didn't have any challengers booked in this week, but I know I've got one at the beginning of next week. Perhaps I can close the gym after that for a few days. It's been a while since I've seen Mrs Ketchum and Professor Oak anyway."

"Uh huh," Tracey frowned. "Well, cool. It'll be good if you could join us."

"Mm hmm," Misty grunted, flicking through the papers once again, vacating the gym.

"Tell me more about Kalos, then," Brock prompted, leaning back.

"It was intense," Ash replied, thinking to himself that he needs to find something else to say, but it was all that came to mind.

"In what way?"

"The battles were really demanding," he said, "we had to put in a lot more training. And you know, the Lumiose Conference was epic! It really proved to me how far me and my Pokémon have come. Then of course that high ended when Team Flare ruined everything. And I left Greninja to take care of Kalos which was hard, but I think I did the right thing." He sighed. "Then there was that thing with Serena…"

"Wait, you and a girl?"

"Well, I've known Serena since we were kids. We both attended a Pokémon Summer Camp, hosted by Professor Oak and I don't know," he shrugged, "she remembered me and then travelled with me, Clemont and Bonnie. After all that stuff with Team Flare and we were all parting ways, it got a bit weird and I didn't know how to respond…" he trailed off.

"Wait, what happened?" Brock frowned, leaning forward.

Psyduck came out from behind them and sat down. Brock and Ash stared at the duck Pokémon's unexpected appearance and shot glances at each other.

"What are you doing here, Psyduck?" Ash asked, realising it was pointless to even ask.

They both turned at the sound of a lot of huffing and puffing and Misty skidded in front of them.

"There you are!" she wheezed.

"Misty?" Ash asked, his brow furrowed, concern evident on his face.

"Oh, I'm fine," she waved his worry away. "I was just looking for Psyduck. I never know where he is anymore, and it worries me." Brock and Ash exchanged raised eyebrows. "What? I care!" She stood up straight and looked between the two of them. "Hold on, why is Psyduck with you?"

"I'm afraid neither of us speak duck," Ash said jokingly.

Misty swatted the back of his head, making them suddenly both aware that she was still wearing his hat.


	8. Chapter 8

Author's note: Thanks for all the reviews you've given me in previous chapters. They're SO appreciated. As a thank you, here's an update (I usually do one every weekend but your reviews are inspiring more writing this week!) - please leave me reviews. They're always welcome!

Chapter 8

The phone rang throughout the gym and Misty leapt down the stairs and brought the receiver to her ear. Her eyebrows raised.

"Sure, no problem," she answered. "I'll just get him for you. One moment." She walked to the bottom of the stairs and inhaled a lungful of air and screamed, "Ash!"

Ash peered round the corner from the top of the stairs. "Yes, Misty?"

"May's on the phone for you," she replied.

"Oh, what's up?" he asked, walking down the stairs.

"Try picking up and you'll find out," she answered tartly, walking behind the front desk in the main lobby where the phone was located.

"Helpful as always, Mist," he said sarcastically, brushing past her to pick up the receiver. "Hello? May?"

"Hey, Ash!" May's voice chimed down the phone cheerily. "I called Pallet Town, but your mom said you'd travelled to Cerulean City and was staying at the gym for a few days."

"Yeah," he confirmed, "I stopped by to see Misty."

Misty was crouched behind the desk flicking through gym paperwork, but she paused upon her ear catching Ash's words. He'd totally disregarded Tracey's presence here. She felt herself go warm inside, holding her stomach for the strange sensation of Butterfree's delicately fluttering from within. She rolled her eyes at herself. It's just _Ash_!

"So how come you called?" Ash asked. "Is everything alright?"

"Oh, everything's great," she positively beamed down the phone. There was a brief pause. "Drew says hi, by the way."

"Cool, say hi for me," he smiled, then he smirked. "So, you and Drew, May?"

"Can it, Ash Ketchum!" May retorted. "I could say the same for you and Misty."

"What?" Ash asked, taken aback.

"We're in Sinnoh competing in the contests here," May went on, not having heard Ash's stunned reply. "We haven't spoken in a while and I heard you'd travelled back to Kanto after the conference in Kalos. We were wondering if you were going to join us in Sinnoh."

"Honestly, I haven't any idea what I'm doing next," Ash shrugged. "I thought I'd stick around Kanto for a while."

Misty smiled at his reply. A flash of yellow caught the corner of her eye and she got up. That was definitely Psyduck she saw. She followed him out of the room. Ash looked behind him to watch Misty leave and then he was alerted back to the phone.

"I'm sorry, what?" he interrupted. "Can you repeat that, May?"

"Where did you just go, Ketchum?" May asked, the curiosity in her voice.

"Oh, I think Misty just went to go find Psyduck," he sighed, "again."

"I feel like there's more to this story," May commented.

"I guess there is," Ash nodded. "When I got here, I found Misty and Tracey discussing what could be wrong with Psyduck as his eating habits have changed, he refuses to battle – which is a weird story in itself – and he disappears on his own for hours at a time."

"What's that about his battling?"

"Apparently he refuses to battle any male trainers now," Ash told her.

"I've never heard of Pokémon choosing battles like that before," she pondered, "even a Pokémon like Psyduck."

"Yeah, Misty and I were going to battle later to see if he'll respond," he said.

"Hmm," May mused down the phone.

"What?"

"No, it's nothing," May assured him, "I'm just wondering, has Misty had any challengers since you've been there?"

"No, why?"

"It's just…" May hesitated. "Do you remember my first contest?" She paused for his yes before going ahead. "Well, you told me that Pokémon pick up on our feelings. When I was nervous and anxious, you said Beautifly would pick up on that and it would affect our performance. Of course, when I calmed down, we forgot the crowd and performed to our best."

"O…kay," Ash said slowly. "What's your point?"

"Look, don't take this the wrong way, it's just a suggestion," May hedged. "Maybe the problem isn't Psyduck, maybe the problem is Misty."

"Misty?" Ash laughed awkwardly. "Why do you say that?"

"You told us that Misty left to become the gym leader of Cerulean City," she reminded him. "Did she ever tell you that that is what she wanted?"

Silence passed down the phone. Ash sighed. "No, not really," he answered.

"Which Pokémon is closest to Misty?"

Ash thought. "Probably Psyduck, not that she'd admit that."

"I'm no Pokémon psychologist," May stated the obvious, "but it's just a thought. If you speak to Brock, he might have a better idea."

"Brock's here actually," Ash smiled, the frown vanishing from his brow.

"Oh, really?" she squealed. "Say hello to him from me!"

"Yeah, sure!" Ash agreed enthusiastically. Then Ash snorted.

"That did _not_ sound good down the phone," May laughed. "What is it?"

"Looks like Brock finally got a girlfriend," Ash replied. "Weird, right?"

"Ha!" May giggled. "Max will get a kick out of that one!"

"For sure," Ash chuckled. "Anyway, I'm sorry, you were saying why you rang before I cut you off with the drama currently residing here."

"Oh, yeah!" May brightened so much that the light was coming down the phone and giving Ash's face a free tan. "Drew and I have only one more ribbon to get each and we're hoping to compete in the Grand Festival. We're hoping you'll come over to watch us!"

"You are, May!" Drew's voice sounded down the phone.

"It's in a few months, right?" Ash checked.

"Yeah!" May replied.

"I can't say for definite, but I'll definitely see if Brock, Misty and Tracey can come along too to support you both," Ash grinned.

"You're a peach," May squealed excitedly. "Right, I've gotta go, Drew's glaring at me."

"I see nothing's changed there then," Ash said.

"Nope," May replied. "Cheerio!"

Ash hung up the phone and mused over what May had said about their current Psyduck problem.

"Totodile!" Ash called, "I choose you!"

Totodile appeared in a flash of light, immediately jumping up and down easily on his feet with glee.

"Alright," Misty mumbled to herself, "here goes nothing." She raised her pokéball, throwing it. "Psyduck, come on out!"

Psyduck appeared in front of her, his head in his hands, a vacant stare on his face. Misty sweat dropped, the reaction now a habit more than mere exasperation.

"Why did you choose Totodile, Ash?" Tracey questioned. "A water Pokémon won't have any effect on Psyduck."

"We don't want to hurt him, Tracey!" Ash yelled across the gym arena. "We want to get him to battle!"

Ash turned back to Misty and Psyduck in front of him, turning his attention onto Totodile.

"Totodile, water gun!" Ash ordered, his hand pointing directly at Psyduck.

"Psy," Psyduck responded.

Misty looked at Psyduck, surprised to see even the slightest reaction. _Well, here goes,_ she thought to herself.

"Psyduck, dodge!"

The yellow duck Pokémon merely stepped to the side, his head still held in his hands.

"Totodile, leer!" Ash called.

Psyduck stared at Totodile, nothing appearing to have registered. He looked up at Misty, the frustration evident on her face. She pointed in Totodile's direction.

"Water gun, Psyduck!"

A moment passed and he obliged, shooting water directly in Totodile's path.

"Totodile, leap into the water!" Ash commanded.

The little crocodilian Pokémon did as he was told, swimming easily through the water. He shot up and out of the water, landing in front of Ash.

"Now, scary face!"

Totodile pulled a disturbing face at Psyduck, causing Psyduck to step back in response.

"Psyduck, try tail whip!" Misty yelled.

Psyduck leapt towards Totodile, swiping his tail just before the playful Pokémon was able to avoid it.

"Totodile, bite!"

Totodile automatically bit down on Psyduck's head. Misty's eyebrows raised.

"Ash, why would you do that? You know it'll give Psyduck a headache!"

"That's the idea!"

"Are you dumb?"

"Don't you want to see if Psyduck will react?"

"Fine!" Misty watched as Psyduck winced at the pain and she saw it. "Psyduck, confusion!"

Psyduck's eyes glowed and Ash, Brock, Misty and Tracey watched as Totodile was thrown across the gym, hitting the wall, totally disorientated. Psyduck then shook his head repeatedly and ran from the gym. Misty watched open mouthed at his departure.

"Well, he didn't refuse to battle," she stated, "that's progress."

"The exit could have been smoother," Tracey observed.

Ash bent down at Totodile's side. "Are you okay, buddy?"

"Is he alright, Ash?" Misty asked, coming over.

Totodile came round and started laughing as he usually would. "Yeah, he's good," Ash chuckled. "Brock, would you mind giving him a quick check over?"

"No problem!" Brock accepted.

"I'll go find Psyduck," Misty said, her brow furrowed.

Ash watched Misty leave then turned to Brock. "I'll follow you through."

Tracey left Brock and Ash with Totodile while he turned to straighten the gym out again.

Brock worked on Totodile, giving him an overall check over. As he was doing this, he glanced at Ash's strained face.

"He's fine, Ash, really," he said, continuing to look at all his vitals.

"No, it's not that," Ash waved away. "I was talking to May earlier – she says hi by the way – and she just said something about Psyduck that made me think."

"Oh yeah?" Brock mused, "what was it?"

So Ash told him, causing Brock's eyebrows to raise, giving him an idea.


	9. Chapter 9

Author's note: I'm feeling unsure about this story and maybe a little disheartened with it, so please leave me reviews to let me know if it's worth the last few chapters to complete the story. I'm not sure if this story came out as I wanted it, so leave me your thoughts!

Chapter 9

Misty wandered through the gym, doubling back when she caught sight of Ash playing with the Pokémon outside through the window. She stood there, arms folded across her chest, a small smile playing at the corners of her mouth. She'd really missed having her best friends around the past four years. Her ears caught on to something in the gym reception, interrupting her musings and her eyes narrowed. She followed the sound of a one-sided conversation through to where the phone is situated, and she stopped dead in her tracks at the sight before her.

It was Brock on the phone, flamboyantly waving his arms about as he blushed furiously down the phone at whoever was on the other end of the conversation. She wasn't quite close enough to capture what he was saying but she could still see the love-struck idiot expression pasted all over his face. He was muttering down the phone nevertheless and whatever it was clearly demanded some level of business. She shook her head and swivelled back around, marching her way over to where Ash and all his Pokémon were playing.

"Hey, guys," she greeted the general group. Her eyebrows raised. "Politoed, I didn't know you were out here, too!"

"Politoed," the frog Pokémon replied, happily clapping his hands. Misty smiled down at him fondly, petting him gently on the head. She looked up at Ash.

"Do you know who he's talking to?" she asked, thumbing in the direction of where Brock was.

"You mean Brock?" Misty nodded. "Oh, he's talking to Nurse Joy."

Misty frowned, looking blank. "Ash, there's like a million Nurse Joys across the regions," she exaggerated.

"Oh, he's talking to the Nurse Joy we met on the way to Azalea Town in Johto," Ash elaborated further.

"Whatever for?" Misty asked, hand on hip.

"She has a degree in Pokémon psychology," Ash shrugged. "We know there's nothing physically wrong with Psyduck, so we wondered if there was something else going on with him."

"Like what?" Misty asked again, looking unimpressed.

"I don't know," Ash replied hotly. "I'm not a mind reader, Misty!"

"Alright," Misty hit back, rolling her eyes, "no need to get your Pokéballs in a twist."

Ash pulled a face.

"So, when are you going back to Pallet Town?" she asked somewhat tentatively.

"Tomorrow," Ash answered. "Tracey said you'll be joining us a few days later after your gym battle at the beginning of the week." There was more than a hint of hope in his voice.

"That's right," Misty nodded. "I haven't visited Professor Oak or Mrs Ketchum in a while anyway. Professor Oak asked to see my Corsola and Luvdisc."

Ash didn't ask further about that request. As fascinating as it all was, Pokémon research wasn't his area of interest. He took everything he was told as read and wasn't all that inclined to know the ins and outs of the science and psychology behind Pokémon.

"Mom?" Ash asked incredulously. "I didn't realise you visited her."

"Well, she's alone a lot, with the exception of Professor Oak and Tracey, of course," she smirked. "And I thought it'd be good for her to have visitors." Misty paused. "I guess it's good for me too."

Ash peered at her uncertainly. "Well, you can't be alone being a gym leader. You must see people all the time."

Misty sighed, her face falling slightly. "Seeing people and being in their company are two very different things, Ash."

Ash blinked, not entirely sure how to respond, but before he could, Brock yelled out to them.

"Hey guys," Brock called, "come into the gym."

Ash and Misty looked at each other, shrugged then followed Brock inside. They reached the pool arena and looked between Brock and Tracey, then noticed Psyduck sat in front of Tracey.

"Will I need to clean all the drool off my phone, Brock?" Misty asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

Brock ran his fingers through his hair with an embarrassed chuckle.

"Your phone is fine," he assured her. "Anyway, I spoke to Nurse Joy and she talked me through how we can find out what's going on with Psyduck."

"Why were you acting like a blithering idiot anyway?" Misty accused, pointing at him. "I thought you were otherwise engaged with another girl from medical school."

"We're not engaged!" Brock panicked.

"I meant courting," Misty rolled her eyes.

"It doesn't mean I can't acknowledge beauty," Brock defended himself.

"Someone get me a bucket," Ash mumbled to himself. Then he looked pointedly at them. "I thought we were here to discuss Psyduck, _not_ Brock's love life."

"We are," Tracey confirmed, flicking his eyes between Brock and Misty.

Misty sat down next to Tracey, beckoning Psyduck to sit next to her.

"Anyway, like I said, Nurse Joy suggested how we can figure out why Psyduck's not been himself," Brock continued.

Everyone was seated, Psyduck sat at Misty's feet and Brock sat opposite the young gym leader.

"When did you notice the changes in Psyduck?" Brock asked her.

Misty pulled a face in thought. "Maybe less than four years ago."

"Did anything in particular happen to cause such a change?" he pressed.

"Nothing comes to mind," Misty shrugged, looking down at the oblivious duck. "Honestly, I think it was all kind of gradual."

Brock nodded, writing everything down on a pad of paper that he'd nicked from an unwilling Tracey.

"Have you noticed a change in how he's feeling in general? Does anything make him noticeably unhappy?"

Misty's brow furrowed. "He looks just as dazed and confused as usual. That's nothing new."

"Does he get on with the other Pokémon?" Brock asked.

"Always," Misty nodded. "It's only really become a concern the past few months when he started doing everything as he pleases. Even for Psyduck, that's unusual."

"So, he's still interacting with people and Pokémon?" Brock wondered, a slight frown on his face.

"Yeah, I guess so," Misty answered, "with the exception of battling, of course. It's like he's just given up with that."

"For a Pokémon so powerful, that's really odd," Tracey mused.

"Hold on," Ash interrupted, "he battled with me. You said he refused to battle with male trainers and now he's not battling at all."

"Before you, he wasn't battling," Misty shrugged. "In the end, I stopped trying to make him do something he didn't want to do. It felt unfair."

"Why would Psyduck battle Ash?" Brock posed his question to the room.

"Perhaps familiarity?" Tracey suggested.

Brock nodded. "It's likely he's tired."

"Then why not just go to sleep?" Ash asked, a blank look on his face.

"No, I mean fatigued," Brock went on. "It feels like a classic case of burn out."

"Burn out?" Ash questioned, looking thoroughly lost.

"Yes," Brock nodded, tapping his pen on the pad of paper. "Burn out is physical or mental collapse caused by overwork or stress." The doctor in training was evident and strong in his voice and he visibly puffed up at the sound of his medical knowledge.

"But what does Psyduck have to be stressed about?" Misty frowned. "The Pokémon are regularly rotated so that they have sufficient rest between challengers." The three guys all glanced at each other. Brock bit his lip. Misty looked at them all. "What?"

"Is that how you feel, Misty?"

"What does this have to do with Psyduck?"

"We're not sure yet," Brock answered honestly.

"We?" Misty challenged, raising her eyebrows.

"Look, we're trying to help," Tracey reasoned.

"Well, help Psyduck then!" Misty exclaimed in frustration.

"Maybe a battle with a friend made Psyduck feel safe," Ash offered. "After all, we all need a little reassurance."

Misty laughed. "Even you, Mr Pokémon Master?"

Ash shrugged without giving that a reply. Brock's face lit up.

"Maybe that's what Psyduck needed," Brock nodded, as if stamping a full stop on the discussion. "He needed his friends."

"All of the Pokémon in the gym are his friends," Misty countered. "Plus, he has me."

"Who do you have?"

Everyone turned to look at Ash. A stunned silence reigned down on them all. Misty felt her heart skip a beat at his unexpected question, dropped into an ocean and sending great ripples back at them all, knocking Misty hard in the chest. She opened and closed her mouth, looking far too like a Magikarp.

"Again, what does this have to do with my Pokémon?" Misty asked in agitation, shrugging off his question.

"Pokémon feel as we do," Ash said as a matter of fact. "If there's anything I learned on my journey, it's that Pokémon pick up on everything their trainer does, thinks and feels."

Tracey was peering at Psyduck thoughtfully.

"You know, Psyduck may look like he's not pondering much at all," Tracey started, "but maybe there's so much more to him than there appears. He is capable of psychic abilities. He can tap into far more than we can know."

Misty looked at Psyduck with worry in her eyes.

"Perhaps he's feeling depressed," Ash suggested.

At this, Misty's head shot up, her deep cerulean blue eyes meeting Ash's chocolate brown orbs.

"How can you judge?" Misty snapped, a defensive edge evident in her voice. "You never came back!"

"What?" Ash asked, taken aback. Misty missed what words she'd put together in her argument and continued.

"You don't know what it's like to be here," Misty went on, standing up. "You didn't want to know. So, don't judge how Psyduck may or may not feel. You never came back."

"I always come back," Ash argued.

"Yes, to Pallet Town for a day so your mother can check if you still have four limbs then you leave again," Misty disputed. She stepped forwards towards Ash. "You. Never. Came. Back." With each word, she poked Ash hard in the chest. "It's been four years and you haven't once visited the gym. How can you judge the life of a gym leader when you bounce between each gym on your way to the next Pokémon league?" Her voice had a quiver in it now with the strength of the emotions that she always kept down. "After I took over the gym, I saw you _twice_, Ash. Twice. Then after the Battle Frontier, I never saw you again." She advanced on Ash, closing more of the gap between them. "You left me and never came back." She hit the sides of her fists down repeatedly on Ash's chest. Brock and Tracey looked at each other, worry evident on their faces but also uncertain whether to intervene. Brock shook his head slightly at Tracey. Ash needed to react. However, Ash looked helplessly down at the redhead, unsure how to respond, having no idea how they'd gotten to this point. "How could you not come back, Ash Ketchum?"

She looked up into Ash's face, her eyes glassy with the hint of tears behind them. Her gaze went round the room and she looked at Ash once more. She shook her head and hurried out of the gym arena. The three guys watched her leave. Brock and Tracey looked up at Ash, but he was unaware of their stares. Psyduck silently looked at Ash and ran out after Misty. Brock and Tracey raised their eyebrows, not having seen so much of a reaction from the duck Pokémon before now.

"Seems May was onto something," Brock murmured.

Misty stood by her bike in the back of the gym where she knew no one would follow her. Memories of six years ago were undeniably on her mind.

_"It's 'cause of this bike that I met Ash," Misty commented, her hands on the handlebars of her bike as she pushed it along, with Ash and Brock at her side._

_"Toke!" Togepi trilled, looking up at her trainer from inside the basket at the front of the bike._

_"Togepi," Misty said gently, looking down at the little egg Pokémon, "it was a coincidence that you and I met too!"_

_"Ours wasn't coincidence," Ash piped up, causing Misty to look to her right at Ash. "I don't believe it could be just a coincidence that I met you out of all people," he confessed, eyes looking ahead._

_"What do you mean, Ash?" Misty asked._

_"I guess what I mean is even though that happened," Ash continued, turning to look at her, "I think that we were meant to meet and become friends."_

_"Me too!" Brock agreed. "We've been through so much together on our travels that I'd say we're best friends now!"_

_Misty looked at the two trainers in surprise. "You mean it, Brock? We're really best friends?" Her face lit up. "Yeah." She nodded with a smile._

_Ash and Brock both looked at Misty with a nod, the smile clear as day on her face._

Psyduck peered round the door and looked up at his trainer. It was a relief for him after so long to see her finally get the pain off her chest. It was hurting him, too.

_Goodbye… Funny how that's such a hard thing to say. Now it's time to let go but never thought I'd feel this way. Promise not to be sad but we both knew I was lying. Gotta fight back the tears 'cause can't let you see me crying. You're more than just my best friend. What makes me Misty most of all, in our final curtain call is knowing that I won't see you… again._


	10. Chapter 10

Author's note: Thank you SO much to all my reviewers. You really helped with the grey mood I was in. I have a fully developed plot to finish this story, which will be another few chapters until I wrap it up. Let me know if you'd like an epilogue to the story to see where their story is after the events of the main body of this story. I hope you like this update. Please, leave more reviews! While I'm lagging, you're really helping me along! - R

Chapter 10

Misty's legs swung above the water, as she gazed out over the lake, a faint frown clear on her face. The sun bounced off the water in blinding white rays. Psyduck sat at her side on the pier that went out ten feet above the water, where Misty had first learned to fish in the Cerulean Gym grounds. They sat together in silence, the only sounds to be heard were the wild Pokémon, the breeze rustling the leaves in the thick heavy trees and the ripples of water. Every now and then, a sigh would pass Misty's lips, whether she was conscious of that small action or not was unknown. Psyduck would peer up at her but she made no move to acknowledge it.

She heard the shuffle of feet coming towards her and she stiffened, the frown getting more prominent. She squeezed her eyes closed, hanging her head.

"I really don't want to talk, Ash," she said flatly.

"It's a good thing I'm not him, then," Brock replied, sitting next to her and swinging his legs round to dangle off the edge of the pier.

"I don't want to talk, Brock," she reiterated, glancing at him and turning her gaze back to the water.

"Well, you will," Brock insisted. "If you can't talk to me, then who can you talk to?" Misty remained silent, so Brock tried another approach. "I'm one of your best friends, Misty. Talk to me."

Rather than voice what was really at the forefront of her mind, she went in at another angle.

"How can I be a water Pokémon gym leader, if I can't understand my own Pokémon?" Misty asked, then continued with, "let alone the Pokémon closest to me."

Brock raised his eyebrows.

"Yeah, I know what you're thinking," Misty said, a little annoyance evident in her voice. "I won't repeat it ever again, but I know Psyduck is my closest Pokémon. He really gets on my nerves but he's always there."

"And that's who you have," Brock stated, referring to Ash's question to her earlier.

Misty gave him a small smile.

"How can I possibly keep being the gym leader if I haven't been able to be the water Pokémon master that I always dreamed of being?" she asked rhetorically. "I mean I know we're a great gym, possibly one of the best in Kanto, but I'm still missing so much."

"Even gym leaders continue to learn, no matter how strong they are," Brock smiled. "Take it from someone who knows." He nudged her in the shoulder with his own, provoking a small smile to surface at the corners of her mouth.

"I guess so," she breathed. She looked down at Psyduck sadly. "I feel like I let him down."

"He loves you no matter how you feel," Brock said sincerely.

Misty frowned up at Brock. He nodded at Psyduck.

"Oh," she sighed. "I feel bad that I don't feel better." She looked at Brock. "Knowing that it affects my Pokémon just makes it worse."

"It's not your fault," he shrugged. "We all have a long journey learning and getting to know our Pokémon. We aren't miracle workers, Misty. We work with them, don't control them and more importantly, we are not them."

"I suppose I know that," Misty replied.

"Pokémon pick up a lot of our traits," Brock continued. "It's speculated that it's because they're with us so much. Psyduck is with you even when you don't want him at that moment. Pokémon are very loyal creatures."

Misty didn't know how to reply.

"You're lucky, you know," she murmured.

"Why?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You were able to pursue your dream," she elaborated, "granted, it's a dream that changed over time, but you could pass on the gym to your younger brother, knowing the gym will stay in your family."

Brock frowned.

"Are you okay?"

She looked up at him, blinking at the sunlight that shone in her face.

"Why do you ask?"

"Me and Ash…" Brock hesitated, "we know that the gym was forced on you when your sisters went on a world tour. I know that isn't what you really wanted but you did it anyway so that the gym stayed in your family name."

"It wasn't all bad," Misty mumbled. "I got stronger, as did my Pokémon. It was a feat in itself to tame Gyarados and we've gained new additions to the water family."

"Yeah, but Psyduck sensed your unhappiness," Brock rebutted.

"I didn't notice it," Misty replied honestly. "Really, everyday was a whirlwind of busy. In the beginning it was welcome. It stopped me from thinking of what I'd lost and gave me focus. The gym needed work, we had challengers on a regular basis, there's so much more to a gym than people realise." Brock nodded in agreement. "But eventually, every day was the same. Maybe Psyduck just noticed before I did."

"I should have visited more often," Brock said regretfully. "I know Ash feels the same."

Misty's frown deepened and Brock spotted it immediately.

"He gets caught up in his training, we both know that," he murmured.

"Yeah, I know," she nodded.

"You mean everything to him, Misty," Brock said outright.

Her head swung round to him, her expression looking far too similar to a Hoot Hoot. Brock smiled.

"I know he's as dense as a herd of Tauros, but he's been friends with me long enough not to be completely oblivious," he shrugged. "Did you see his face before you left?" She shook her head slowly. She hadn't really looked for a reaction, as he just appeared lost. "He was confused, yes, but he was devastated."

"Why?" She internally kicked herself for sounding like a twelve-year-old.

"Look in his bag this evening while he's outside training with Pikachu," Brock suggested. "You'll understand why."

Ash sat with Meganium at his right side and Pikachu at his left outside on the grass. He leant against Meganium's strong body, feeling like all life had been taken from him. He could still feel her fists on his chest where she'd repeatedly hit him in her outburst. He'd left it too long since he'd last seen her. He'd always known that, but he always had a piece of her with him. After Kalos, he just knew that it wasn't enough. He didn't expect the Pokémon therapy session to turn into what it was. He'd never felt his chest feel so heavy before.

"Pikapi," Pikachu said sadly, putting his paws on Ash's thigh.

He looked down at his Pika-pal and gave him a small smile.

"It's okay, buddy," he assured the little yellow mouse. "I can't lose her, so I won't." He sighed. "I just hope I haven't left it too late."

Meganium looked down at him, shaking her head gently. Ash caught the soothing scent that came from her huge crimson petals around her neck and he smiled.

"You know, don't you?"

She nodded.

"I never lost you, right?"

Again, she nodded.

"How could I not come back?" he repeated her words to himself. "She's worth so much more than me." He sighed. He looked down at Pikachu. "I need to get her away from here, but how?"

Meganium and Pikachu mumbled responses but Ash barely noticed. His mind started ticking and he knew it wouldn't stop until he answered that very question.


	11. Chapter 11

Author's note: Apologies for the delay - I've been moving house and I won't have internet in my new place until next week, so I'm 'borrowing' the WiFi at work so I can get this to you! I hope you enjoy this and please, as always, leave reviews. I really loved writing this one. - R

Chapter 11

Misty sat on her bed, her hand absentmindedly rubbing back and forth on the top of the Staryu patterned fleece blanket that lay on top of her bed sheets. Her hair hung in loose curls around her face as she watched the shadows get longer on her floor as the sun started to set. A patter of familiar little feet made her look up.

"Azu," Azurill trilled from his position at her feet.

"Hi, Azurill," she smiled softly at him, patting the space at her side. Azurill jumped up and smiled happily as she petted his head.

Misty looked down at the little water Pokémon fondly and sighed. Her bare feet hit the floor and she peered out of her window. Her view of the outside was of the lake and gardens where the wild Pokémon liked to graze. Her eyes lifted beyond the large oak tree to the blast of bright yellow light and she instantly spotted the figure of her long-time best friend.

_You'll understand why._

She spun around and fled from her room. She scurried down the corridor and with no hesitation, she burst through the door. Her eyes scanned the empty bedroom and her eyes landed on his bag. She fell to her knees and her hand hovered above the zip. She hesitated. The only thing she was aware of was her breathing. She frowned and bit her lip. Her fingers gripped the zip and she pulled it down the length of the opening. She looked inside.

Pikachu's pokéball. A lukewarm bottle of water. A shirt. Three pairs of underwear. Really, three? Misty shook her head, moving all of that to one side. His spare cap. Her eyebrows raised. Sunscreen. That surprised her. She sat back and sighed. What was it Brock thought she'd find? She frowned and glanced back at the bag. She reached into the depths again and felt around. She felt a small zip about an inch from the seam and she opened it. She slipped her hand inside and felt a soft piece of material. She pulled it out to find a familiar handkerchief. Was this what she was supposed to find?

She sat back on the floor, considering it. It had faded considerably over the years. It's been five years since her eyes last laid on this. Why would he still have it?

"If I'd known you wanted it back, you only had to ask."

Her head shot round and she saw Ash leaning against the doorframe. She felt the blush rise in her cheeks at being caught sneaking about in his room. He didn't look mad though. Weirdly, he looked unsurprised. He pushed himself off the doorframe with his shoulder and he crossed the room and joined her on the floor. His deep chocolate eyes glanced at her and he brought the bag closer to him.

"You know, Brock is great," he stated, pulling the zip down on both sides all the way. "But I expected him to make it a little easier for you. I'll let you in on a secret." He took her hand and guided it into the bag. His fingers gently curled around hers and he guided them to the seam of the bag inside. "Feel that?" he asked, seeing the light in her face as she did. He let go of her hand and nodded to it. "Go on. Slip your hand inside." Misty obeyed, slipping her fingers through the hole on the inside of the bag and her hand came into contact with something firm but cold. Her fingers clasped it and carefully pulled it out.

Her eyes widened at what she now had in the palm of her hand. She looked up at him, finally finding her voice.

"Why do you still have this?"

"Because I didn't have the real thing," he shrugged.

Misty's brow furrowed and she looked down at the small item. She still remembered the day she sent it to him. She knew he needed encouragement and a best friend was what he needed. She couldn't get away from the gym at the time, so she did the next best thing. She sent him something that she knew would make him smile because he once found it so ridiculous. Her Misty lure.

"How did you know I was in here?" she asked, almost accusing.

"Because Brock spoke to me," he replied.

"What did he say?"

"It doesn't matter," Ash answered instantly. "I know that you think I don't care, Misty." He hesitated. "I haven't been a best friend to you. I haven't been around. But Mist," her deep aqua eyes flicked up to meet his, "I'm so sorry."

She stared intently at him. She'd never heard him apologise for anything before. Not once. There was so much sincerity in his eyes that it was almost burning her retinas. He didn't look away, even when they reached the point that it should have been awkward and uncomfortable. What he didn't count on was what she did next.

She spun around, grabbed the pillow laying on his bed and she whacked him round the head with it, hard. A couple of feathers burst out of it, landing in his lap. He looked momentarily shocked and his eyes shot up to her face.

"Seriously, Ash?" she asked, exasperated. She whacked him again and again. His arms came up to protect his face, so she whacked him in the side. More feathers burst out, floating in the air like a cloud. "You don't even have an excuse for not seeing me all these years!" She whacked him again, knocking his hat off. "I know you were travelling. I know you were preparing for the leagues in each of the regions. I know you worked to get stronger. And I am _so_ proud of what you've accomplished." She stopped and his arms slowly came down, his hair in more disarray than usual. "But you didn't come back Ash. All I wanted was to see you walk through those doors just once." She sighed. "And you never did."

"I know, Mist," he murmured.

Her eyes softened at the nickname that he'd given her on their travels in the Orange Islands.

"You have no idea how much I missed you," he blurted out.

"What?"

"You heard," he retorted.

"Repeat it," she ordered.

"No," he argued.

Her eyebrows raised menacingly. She proceeded to hit him round the head again. The second time her arms swung round, his hands clasped the pillow, thanks to his improved hand-eye coordination. He swept it out of her hands and sat on it.

"I need you, Mist," he said slowly and carefully. She sucked in a lungful of air. He reached forward, grabbed her hand and pulled her into him. Her eyes widened at the sudden and unexpected occurrence of falling into his embrace. She used a hand to push herself off him from his shoulder, but his arms tightened around her. She felt her anger and upset at him fade away and she let herself nestle into the cage of his arms. Her head rested on his shoulder, the scent of him engulfing her nostrils completely. "Camp outside with me tonight."

She made to move to look at him but found his embrace wouldn't allow her. So, she settled with just letting the exasperation be known in the tone of her voice.

"Why would we do that when there's perfectly comfortable, warm beds right here?"

"Because like you said, it's been years and I really want to do this for old times sake," he said as a matter of fact.

"Fine," she conceded. "Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"Why was my lure in the lining of your bag?"

Ash breathed in and leaned back, looking down at the redhead.

"So, I'd never lose it," he told her.

"It's years old," she frowned. "It's useless to fish with now. Why would you keep it all these years?"

"It keeps you with me on my journey," he said, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

Misty didn't answer. She got to her feet.

"I bet Brock's already working on dinner," she said. "I'll go feed the Pokémon. My sleeping bag is in the cupboard under the stairs. Go get yours and put them both by the back door. We'll talk about your journey tonight."

"Okay," he nodded.

Misty lay awake staring up at the night's sky. The endless depths, deep colours and mystery that looked down on her reminded her so much of the waters she loved so much. The peace washed over her as she smiled at the stars that twinkled down on her. It was moments like this that reminded her of the happiest years of her life. A loud snore interrupted her thoughts and her head turned to look at the sleeping figure next to her. She rolled her eyes. Some things never changed. She felt the familiar warmth well up in the pit of her stomach as his snoring filled the silence of the night. It was just like the years they travelled together.

She turned on her side and looked at his face. It was peaceful. There was a slight frown between his eyebrows and his bangs had fallen across his forehead, his thick dark lashes still visible in the moonlight. His hair was more of a mess than usual, but it always gave him that cute boyish look. She pushed her fists into her stomach in an attempt to quell the Butterfrees. She'd suffered with the flutterings in her stomach for years. She first experienced them when they travelled through the Orange Islands when they were eleven. She passed it off as a bit of nausea but as she got older, it only got worse. It frustrated her to no end. He was a complete and total _idiot,_ but she missed him all the same when he was away.

She sighed. She brought her hand forward and moved his dark, ebony hair from out of his eyes. He finally opened up about his travels. He talked about the Pokémon he saw, the Pokémon he caught, the battles he fought, the battles he lost, the Kalos league, Team Rocket's incessant stalking of him and Pikachu. She felt a deep sadness that she hadn't experienced it with him. He asked about the Cerulean gym, her new Pokémon, the challengers she faced, her day to day life. She let her hand fall to the side of her face, and she watched his features change.

He moaned and fidgeted in his sleep. The frown got deeper, then it softened and deepened once again. She could see the movement of his eyes beneath his eyelids like he was in a deep sleep and caught in an intense dream. _Intense_. It was a word he used a lot these days, whenever anyone asked him about his latest journey. She hadn't thought to question it before now. His fingers curled around his sleeping bag and they curled into a fist. She watched his knuckles turn white with the strain and she placed her hand on top of his.

"Ash," she murmured.

He mumbled in his sleep, fidgeting. His breathing got more laboured, his chest rising and falling with every quickened breath.

"Ash," she prompted louder.

His groans rivalled her encouragements to wake up, so she tried again.

"Ash!" She shook him harder.

He let out a scream as his eyes shot open. He sat up, the faintest hint of perspiration on his skin. He looked around haphazardly.

"Ash," Misty said, uncertain, "are you alright?"

His deep chocolate brown eyes met hers and he let his breathing slow. He shook his head absentmindedly as he felt his awareness come back to him.

"Misty?"

"Yeah," she nodded, "you were having a nightmare."

"Oh," he blinked, rubbing his eyes, "sorry. It's kind of a problem." He shrugged it off.

"Are you going to tell me, or do I need to beat you up to hear about it?"

Ash laughed. "I have no doubt that you could!"

"Go on," Misty prodded. "What is it?"

"I've kind of had them since I left Kalos," Ash admitted.

"I guess this is the _intense_ part," she hinted, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I guess so," he sighed. "It was just… the whole Team Flare thing, it just really got to me. I don't know why. I've always just… bounced back. But this time I just didn't. Maybe it was just harder because I had to leave Greninja behind to take care of Kalos. I've released Pokémon before, but I don't know. It was different. I had a different connection with Greninja. It was like leaving a part of me behind. It just… hurt."

"It's a hero complex," Misty said, "or should I say, yours."

"What do you mean?"

"You've always been there to save people and do the right thing," she stated. "Maybe you did leave something behind in Kalos." She sat up in a cross-legged seat. "Ash, I know you went through a lot after the Kalos conference. It'll take time."

Ash ran his fingers through his hair, awkwardly. "Sorry," he apologised. "It's so lame."

"Just because you're a guy, doesn't mean you don't have feelings," Misty replied, lightly punching his arm. "Come on, if you can't talk to me, then who can you talk to?"

"I don't know how I stayed away from here for so long," he murmured, looking down into his lap. "So, are you going to join us tomorrow?"

"Yeah, of course!" Misty nodded. "I wouldn't miss it."

"It'll be good to have you back in Pallet Town," he grinned.

"I'm sure your mother says the same about you," she smirked.

"Hey! She knows I came to see you," he defended himself.

"And what's Tracey – a part of the gym's furniture?" she asked sarcastically, attempting to mask the blush in her cheeks.

"I have to stop his head from outgrowing that bandana somehow," he snorted.

Misty laughed. Ash just smiled at her. _God, he'd missed her laugh._

"What?" Misty asked, her laughter petering off.

"Nothing," Ash said, shaking his head. "I just miss laughing with you, that's all."

"Well, you had mini Misty."

Without thinking, he came forward and threw his arms round her neck. The breath got knocked out of her and her deep blue eyes widened in surprise, but she then melted into the hug. This was the second time in a day he'd been this close to her and she was pleasantly surprised to find that she liked it.

"Mini Misty didn't have your laugh," he mumbled into her ear.

"Fairly certain that would scare away the fish," she replied tartly.

He leant back, giving her a funny look, amusement all over his face. Their noses were mere inches apart. They could feel each other's breath against their skin. Misty saw a resolve in his eyes as he looked at her intently. They gravitated towards each other, a mere whisper from their lips brushing against each other. They both looked down at the last second, working to shake the emotions off, moving away from each other.

"We should get to sleep," Misty whispered. "I need to prepare the gym and you need to get to Pallet Town for lunch with your mother."

"Yeah," he muttered quietly. He lay back with his hands behind his head and he breathed deeply.

Serena's kiss never had such an impact on him as being in touching distance to Misty did. It was like mountain's moved and he didn't notice. The world stood perfectly still.

He just couldn't put a name to this feeling.


	12. Chapter 12

Author's note: Thank you to all of my reviewers! I hope you enjoy this update. Only a few more chapters left of this story so I hope you dig it. Let me know your thoughts and as always, please leave reviews!

Chapter 12

Misty recalled Starmie to his pokéball with a sigh. Her last challenger before she closed up the gym for a couple of days while she travelled over to Pallet Town was a tremendous disappointment. She recognised the same fire and spark in this trainer as she'd seen in countless others, but arrogance was their downfall. This trait reminded her so much of another trainer with an electric Pokémon as his partner. She smiled to herself at the thought of him. She looked across the gym arena at her challenger who looked shell shocked and quite possibly close to tears. She exchanged some advice with the young boy in front of her, encouraged him to train more and return for a rematch in a couple of weeks. She then proceeded to get to work on tidying up the gym. She pulled a face at the charred stands that surrounded the arena, the flooded floors and the webbing floating on the top of the water. She cringed. Why did he have to bring out a bug Pokémon? She instinctively panicked and brought out Gyarados to end that match as quickly as possible.

The guys had left early yesterday morning and Misty had set to work to prepare for her challenger the following day. But now she had more tasks at hand before travelling to Pallet Town. She raced up the stairs and into each guest room in turn. First, she entered Brock's room and smiled at the sight of it in exasperation. The sheets and towels were folded up neatly at the end of the bed, ready to be thrown in the wash. The room smelled distinctly of furniture polish and she could see where Brock had moved furniture to clean underneath them. She snorted. Typical Brock, she thought affectionately, while reaching for the sheets and towels and threw them in the washing basket sat outside of the room on her way past into Tracey's room. The bed wasn't stripped off, but the bed was made. The room was left tidy as usual but there was no telling presence of polish as there was in Brock's room. She worked to strip the bedding off and pulled the towels off the radiator, turning to throw them into the basket with perfect aim. She entered Ash's room and she stopped dead in her track.

Ash's room was a different story entirely. The bed looked like he'd just leapt out of it that morning. The towels were in a heap in the corner of the room, which she suspected were still damp judging by the smell of the room. The curtains weren't quite open and there was a pile of paper at the side of the bed in a messy pile. She sighed. Why was she surprised? In all these years he hadn't changed. She stepped forward and threw the curtains open and pushed the windows open wide to let the air come in. She scooped up the towels, which were still damp, and threw them in the washing basket in the corridor. She then stripped the bed sheets off and left the covers folded up to air out on the top of the bed. She looked down disapprovingly of the pile of papers thrown on the floor. She fell to her knees and picked each up one by one. She saw Ash's scribblings across each page, detailing battle strategies, his Pokémon's type and abilities and battles he'd lost. He had written down everything significant that he'd done wrong and what he needed to work on. Needless to say, Misty was impressed. Her eyebrows were so far up her forehead that they were lost in her hair line. She noticed a last sheet of folded paper that had fallen slightly under the bed. She gripped the paper between her fingers and pulled it up. She squinted slightly. There was faded pencil scribbled onto the page and she held it up to the light.

There was a faint drawing of a Psyduck sat by a lake. A Tentacruel could be seen with its head bobbing along on the top of the water. There were pencil smudging that somewhat resembled mist. There was a stick figure with its hand on the top of the head of a Poliwhirl, drawn wearing what looked like suspenders with a side ponytail drawn in watching the scene. She squinted harder at the scene to read five words.

_I miss her every day._

She pressed her lips together. Who was _she_? She gulped, looking at the figure next to the Poliwhirl and considered the very real possibility that it was her. She felt the Butterfree's take off in her stomach and she pushed her arm into her stomach gently. She stood up, folding the piece of paper up and sliding it into the shorts of her gym leader outfit. She placed the pile of papers onto the top of the laundry to be done and took the lot downstairs with her. She took Ash's notes and put them on the top of the gym reception desk, paperclipped together, ready to be given back to him.

Delia stood at her oven, stirring soup on the hob with a happy smile pasted on her face. She couldn't help that feeling that she was walking on air when she had her son back. When he walked through the door, she'd leapt on him, throwing her arms around his neck, once again exclaiming how good it was to have him home. She'd looked up to find Tracey and Brock following up the path to the house and she breezed past Ash to squeeze a cheek of each young man in greeting, which they'd graciously laughed off. Now she was preparing a dinner fit for a party as she'd invited Professor Oak, Gary, Brock and Tracey to join her for a celebratory feast to have Ash back home. Of course, she hadn't said those words to elaborate what this was for, but judging by the look in Samuel's eye, he knew exactly how she felt.

Ash was sat in the grounds of Professor Oak's laboratory taking a breath from a tough afternoon training with his Pokémon. He had Gabite at his side who still looked raring to go. He looked at him with pride. He knew they still had a long way to go but he was confident. His Pokémon were getting stronger everyday… and so was he.

"You're not done yet, are you?" Ash grinned up at his dragon Pokémon.

A familiar growl rumbled in Gabite's chest causing Ash to leap to his feet. He rubbed his hand on the top of Gabite's head and pressed his lips together apologetically.

"Sorry I forgot our training notes," he said regretfully. "I've no idea how I forgot them."

Gabite glared up at his trainer. It was an expression that Ash had seen one too many times from his Pokémon and he couldn't help the snort escape from his mouth. He nudged the predatory Pokémon .playfully with the side of his fist and rolled his eyes.

"Come on," Ash said, nodding towards the open grass, "let's do some more. We need to get you ready."

"Hey, Ash!" Brock yelled, causing Ash to look up in his direction where he was stood in the doorway of the lab. "Your mom called. We need to get down to your house in 20 minutes!"

"Cool," Ash called back. "Be back in ten."

Brock shot him the thumbs up and turned back to Professor Oak and Gary. Tracey had gone ahead to Delia's house to see Mimey. Brock noted that it was odd to see the professor out of his lab coat, and perhaps looking a little more groomed than usual. He smirked to himself. Gary nudged him, a smirk also gracing his features.

"What, Gary?" Brock asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, come on, what went down in Cerulean, then?" he asked somewhat urgently.

"If you're referring to Ash and Misty, then the answer would be nothing," he replied curtly, "as usual."

"Erm, how?" Gary frowned. "Honestly, I knew Ashy-boy was thick, but I didn't realise he had a head full of sawdust where his brain should be."

Oak looked over the top of the book he had had his nose in and shot his grandson a look of disapproval.

"Gary, you've known him, what, all your life?" Brock said flatly. "You can't tell me you're surprised."

"To be honest, yeah," Gary nodded.

"Seriously? He's no Casanova."

"Well… yeah, that's the point."

Brock had a blank look on his face then he understood.

"Fair point," he nodded.

"Ash is a one-woman kind of guy," Gary shrugged. "We all know it's always been Misty. He's just slower than a Slowpoke when it comes to knowing what's going on in that thick skull of his. I guess that comes as no surprise. He's always had a head full of Pokémon but once Misty came back to be the gym leader in Kanto, he suddenly had some head space."

"Gary," Professor Oak warned.

"Oh, come on, Grandpa," Gary rebutted, "you know it's true. We've been waiting years for them to finally…"

"What have you been waiting for?" Ash interrupted, walking in on them.

"You to get here," Brock jumped in. "Let's go. Your mom's waiting.

"Sure thing," Ash nodded, none the wiser.

They made it to the Ketchum residence with Mimey sweeping up behind them as they made their way into the house. The group discussed Ash's travels, the new Pokémon at Oak's lab, Brock's training in Pokémon healthcare, Gary's recent strides in Pokémon research and Tracey's observations of water Pokémon down at the Cerulean gym. That's when they got interrupted.

"Pika pika," Pikachu piped up, waving his little arms in the air, "chuu."

"What's up, buddy?" Ash frowned, looking down at the little yellow mouse.

"Pika, Pikachupi," he continued, pointing towards the door.

Gary's eyebrows shot up into his hair. Brock looked at him in disbelief, but Ash didn't notice. He shot up from the table and turned the corner and his mouth dropped open at the sight in front of him.

"What is it, Ash dear?" Delia called, following her son through to the hallway, Professor Oak close behind. "Oh my," she exclaimed. She looked at Samuel and he looked back at her with an equal look of surprise.

Misty tripped up over the bags by the doors for the millionth time as she raced through the gym looking top and tail of the building frantically. She ran her fingers through her hair in frustration.

"Come out, you dumb duck!" she hollered down the aquatic corridor with tanks running alongside the walls. "I told you time and time again to do as you're told!"

After a further hour looking through every nook and cranny of the gym for her missing water Pokémon, she realised she was running late, took Psyduck's empty Pokéball with her and made her way towards Pallet Town, missing the incoming phone call by minutes.

"Oh, Psyduck," she groaned to herself. "What the hell is the matter with you?"


	13. Chapter 13

Author's note: Thanks for all your reviews. Please leave me some more and I hope you enjoy this update!

Chapter 13

Ash, Brock, Tracey and Gary stood side by side with wide eyes and equally scared expression on their faces. They were now all wishing that they had taken a leaf out of Delia and Professor Oak's books and fled the building.

"So, you're telling me that this dumb duck has been with you for the past 24 hours?!" Misty said steadily and slowly, reminding the guys of a Rhyhorn ready to start stampeding.

"We called you last night, but we must have missed you," Brock replied reasonably.

"And you couldn't have paged me when no one picked up at the gym?!" Misty seethed. Ash visibly sweat dropped, while Tracey bit his lip. "I expected better from you, Tracey." She pointed directly at him, the anger visible in her bright, blue eyes. "How often do you help me out at the gym? Oh wait, a lot."

"I'm sorry," Tracey apologised, holding his hands in the air. "I just forgot about your pager. You're right."

"Damn straight, I'm right!" Misty hissed. She looked down at Psyduck who was tucking into a bowl of Pokémon food, not taking any notice of the argument going on above him.

"Mist, we had no idea that Psyduck came with us when we left for Pallet Town," Ash hedged. "We'd been here for a couple of hours when Pikachu showed us that he was in my house at dinner."

"How could you have no idea?" Misty frowned. "He's bright yellow for one thing."

"Well, he didn't travel with us," Ash muttered.

"But he was here!" Misty exploded. "And more importantly, he wasn't with me in Cerulean City. I was going out of my mind for hours!"

"Misty, he's here, he's safe, crisis over," Brock tried, the voice of reason making itself known.

"That's not the point, Brock," Misty argued. "What I want to know is why Psyduck left on his own and came here? He is always with me. Why did he run off?"

Gary shrugged. "We can't ever know what a Pokémon is thinking," he said. "I mean last night I tried to bring him over to Grandpa's reserve to be with the other water Pokémon, but he just ran up to Ash's room and wouldn't leave. Of course, we didn't have his Pokéball, so we just left him with Ash."

Misty's mouth clamped shut and confusion washed over her face.

"Excuse me?" she blinked. "He stayed with Ash?" She glanced at the young trainer with his hand behind his head awkwardly.

"Yeah, he was insistent," Ash shrugged. "How could I refuse?"

Misty narrowed her eyes, pressing her lips together. The guys watched her nervously, waiting for the inevitable yelling and guilt trips… but it didn't come.

"Fine," she said shortly. She looked at Ash, her face softening. "Thanks for looking after him."

She turned sharply and made her way up to Professor Oak's lab.

"You're welcome, Mist," Ash murmured, watching her retreating figure.

"Well, that went as well as can be expected," Gary clapped, making Ash jump.

"For you!" Ash protested. "I'm half expecting that damn mallet to make a grand appearance, crashing into my skull."

"You're lucky that's all it's crashed into," Gary snickered.

Ash frowned at him with a distasteful look on his face.

"I often wonder how you ever had a group of cheerleaders following you around," Ash pulled a face.

"Because I'm great and you're a big loser, Ashy-boy," Gary winked, waving behind him as he left, following Misty's steps up to the lab.

"Oh yeah, Gary!" Ash yelled after him. "Let's see you say that after Charizard turns you into a pile of Ash!"

Brock and Tracey exchanged looks of despair as they heard the reply expressing the irony in that statement from the young Pokémon researcher.

Ash found Misty standing with water up to her knees in the lake in Oak's Pokémon reserve surrounded by numerous water Pokémon. Psyduck was sat on the grass verge, the same vacant expression on his face. She looked up upon his arrival and offered him a smile.

"Hey, Ash," she called, wading slowly through the water to avoid the Goldeen swimming around her.

"Hi, Mist," he waved, plopping himself down next to Psyduck. "I see Psyduck's with you this time."

"Yeah," she nodded. "I've no idea what's wrong with him these days." She paused as she stepped out of the water, joining Ash on the verge. "Look, thanks for taking care of him while I was on my way over."

"You already said that," Ash reminded her, nudging her shoulder with his.

"Yeah, I know," she shrugged, "but clearly he felt he needed to be here, and he knew I was coming so maybe he wasn't in any danger."

"Of course, he wasn't," Ash agreed. "He's strong, just like his trainer."

He came up short, his reply not at all expected. Misty stared at him, almost amused.

"Well, thank you, Mr Pokémon Master," she teased, leaning back on her hands. She looked at Psyduck. "I wouldn't trust him with anyone else, so I'm glad he was with you."

Misty sounded so sincere that Ash couldn't help his mouth dropping open. Then in the next moment, a familiar look of smugness passed over his face.

"Put away that ego," the feisty redhead warned, poking him in the side.

"So, how's Professor Oak liking Corsola and Luvdisc?" Ash asked.

"Oh, he finds Caserin fascinating," Misty smiled. "Luvdisc aren't native to Kanto so he's interested in studying him. I already sent over Luverin so he can study their relationship. He said he's never seen Pokémon have such a connection before." She looked at Ash with shining eyes. "I think he's taken a liking to Corsola."

"Of course, he has!" Ash nodded. "Corsola's a great Pokémon."

"Sure is!" Misty smiled.

They both fell into a comfortable silence, just listening to the Pokémon around the reserve. Ash glanced at Misty from out of the corner of his eye and he felt a flutter of Butterfrees in his stomach. He groaned.

"What's up, Ash?" Mist asked, eyebrows raised.

"Stomach-ache," he fibbed.

She nodded slowly, disbelief on her face. "Well, that's ill-timed considering your mother is cooking for everyone later."

"She always does," Ash shrugged.

"She's just happy to have you _home_, Ash," Misty pressed.

Shame briefly washed over his features then he shook it off. "Well, I'm here now," Ash excused himself. "I know she misses me when I'm gone. It's just hard to be here when I'm travelling."

"And when are you next leaving?" Misty asked somewhat stonily.

Ash looked at her. He noted that her face was tense, her eyes hard as she stared out at the lake and the water Pokémon splashing about there. When he didn't answer right away, she turned to look at him, raising her eyebrows slightly to communicate that she was impatient for his answer.

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "I haven't thought that far ahead."

"Why not?"

"Because it's been too long since I was here."

At that, Misty smiled, her features softening.

"You should do that more often," Ash said spontaneously.

"What?"

"Smile," he replied, with a smile of his own.

Misty blushed delicately, turning her face away awkwardly. Ash leaped up to his face. Misty's head whipped round and looked up at him, blinking in the sun.

"I'm just going to find Brock," he announced. "I'll see you at dinner later."

"Sure," she nodded, getting to here feet to. "I'll be with the Pokémon down here."

Ash left with a parting thumbs-up. Misty frowned at Psyduck who was watching him leave.

"Wait, so what am I doing?" Ash asked sceptically.

"Look, I just need you to hold this Vileplume firmly while I retrieve some stun spore," Brock repeated himself patiently.

"What for?" Ash frowned, moving his face mask out of the way.

"Put that back on your face, you twerp," Brock snapped, "do you want to be paralysed over dinner?"

Ash snorted. "Twerp, seriously? You're going there?"

"Maybe Team Rocket had a point," Brock raised an eyebrow. "Now put that back on." He nodded once Ash did as he was told. "And for your information, I want the stun spore because I want to find out if there are other ways we can treat it for anyone who is affected by it."

"Isn't that just research?"

"No, this is medicinal," Brock replied. "Now shush, I need to concentrate."

Ash finally shut his mouth and let Brock work. They both tensed when the Vileplume made to headbutt Ash but with a little Pokémon food, Brock was able to encourage it to sit for a few more minutes while they finished up. Once Brock got what he needed, he thanked the Vileplume and let it join the other Pokémon out on the reserve.

"Well, that was fun," Ash exclaimed flatly.

"Oh, come on," Brock protested, "it wasn't that bad. You helped me in the first step to managing allergies."

"You're welcome," Ash grinned, plonking himself down on the grass, where Brock joined him.

"So, are you going to finish telling me what went on in Kalos, or not?"

"I thought I had?" Ash asked, confused.

"You were telling me about this Serena chick, then Misty appeared looking for Psyduck," Brock reminded him. "Speaking of which, what is it with you and Psyduck?"

"What do you mean?" Ash asked, avoiding the primary question.

"Psyduck seems to be hanging around you, even when you're not aware he's there," Brock elaborated.

"Who knows?" Ash asked rhetorically, shrugging.

"Anyway, back to the original subject at hand, what went on with Serena?" Brock pressed.

"Oh, that," Ash replied, blowing air into his cheek, "yeah."

"You said things got weird," Brock said, making quotation sides in the air with his fingers, "what does that mean?"

"Look, I know I've always been a little… slow," Ash started awkwardly, "when it comes to girls."

"Understatement," Brock mumbled under his breath.

"Anyway," Ash narrowed his eyes, "we were all parting ways after the Lumiose Conference. I was waiting for my plane back home, Clemont and Bonnie were going back to the Lumiose City gym and Serena was catching a flight to Hoenn."

"Wow, you're a terrible storyteller, Ash," Brock said flatly.

"I'm getting to it!" Ash snapped back. "So, we were saying our goodbyes and as Serena was leaving, she ran back up the escalator and kissed me."

"I'm sorry, what?" Brock asked, blinking.

"Then she told me that she would be better for me the next time we meet," Ash continued. "For me, Brock." He raked his fingers through his wild, ebony hair and sighed.

"Okay," Brock replied slowly. "So, how did you feel about that?"

"I don't know," Ash shrugged helplessly. "I spent the entire journey home thinking–"

"Dangerous," Brock interrupted, nudging his friend in the side.

Ash swotted his hand away and continued. "I just needed to see Misty. I didn't know what else to do."

"Why Misty?" Brock's eyebrows were raised so high that they were now virtually in his hairline.

"I guess I just didn't know what else to do," Ash shook his head.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me," Misty's hard voice cut through the conversation.

Ash and Brock watched Psyduck waddle past them and sit, staring all the while at Ash.

"What's wrong, Misty?" Brock asked, frowning at Psyduck and glancing at a horrified Ash.

Misty ignored him and stared at Ash angrily. "So, you finally decide to drop by after four years because another girl kisses you and your tiny brain inside that thick skull can't deal with it?!" She shook her head, pointing at him angrily. "I am so _done_ with you, Ash Ketchum!"

Ash and Brock exchanged looks and Ash leaped up.

"Mist, wait, please!" he called.

He made to run after her, but Brock caught his wrist. Ash looked back at him in irritation.

"I don't know much about girls, but I wouldn't follow her," Brock advised.

Ash frowned, letting his hand fall to his side and frowned, watching Misty's figure disappear into the lab.


	14. Chapter 14

Author's note: this is my favourite chapter and I've had it in mind for a while. I hope you love it like I do. Please let me know what you think by leaving a review!

Chapter 14

"Ash, dear," Delia called, "have you made the bed for Misty?"

Ash's head appeared round the door. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Your bed, Ash," Delia repeated herself. "We need to have your room ready for Misty while she stays with us for a few nights."

"M-my room?" Ash stuttered.

"Yes, dear," Delia sighed, somewhat impatiently. "She has always stayed in your room while she's visited Pallet Town."

"How often does she stay here?" he asked, walking further into the room.

"She visits every couple of weeks while you're travelling," she replied, turning back to the dishes.

"And she stays in my bed?" he blinked, feeling himself heat up.

A crash sounded from within the depths of the sink. Delia whirled round. "Ash, she's stayed in your room before when you were home. What's the problem?"

"Oh, no problem," Ash shook his head. "I'll just go sort out my room."

"Your blow-up bed is in the airing cupboard," Delia called after him.

Ash raced up the stairs and closed his bedroom door behind him. He walked over to his bed and sank onto his mattress. Misty had taken a pass at dinner and ate outside with Psyduck. She'd used the excuse that she wanted to see how much food Psyduck would eat as he'd been off his diet for a while. Everyone had swallowed the excuse, but Ash knew better for once. His mother had refused to let him leave the table and instead had had him sit at the table with everyone else then help her after they had finished with dinner. He knew she wanted to spend time with him, so he complied, while the overwhelming feeling of desperation to seek out his redhead washed over him all evening.

_His redhead._ That thought stopped him short and he leaped to his feet and turned to get his bed ready for Misty. He gulped. The idea of her sleeping in his bed made him feel all hot and bothered. He pushed his window wide open and shot out of the door to fetch his blow-up bed. He got everything ready as his mother asked and slumped down back onto the top of his bed. Why was it bothering him so much having Misty stay in his bedroom with him? All the years they travelled together, they always stayed in the same room in Pokémon centres, slept next to each other when they camped out and as his mother pointed out, she stayed in his bedroom when they were together in Pallet Town. His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a flash of yellow from out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh, hey, Pika –" he stopped. "Psyduck?"

"Psy?" Psyduck replied, hands either side of his head, the vacant expression ever present on his face.

"What are you doing in my room?" Ash asked. "Again."

"Psyduck!" A firm voice shouted, followed by a thumping of feet hitting each stair on their way up. "Why do you keep running off?!"

Misty appeared at the door of Ash's room and the rage in her face instantly dissipated. A blank look replaced it and her eyes glazed over him, then she looked down at her Pokémon. She took a breath and walked in, crouching down in front of Psyduck.

"Psyduck, why are you here?" she asked, ignoring Ash.

Ash couldn't take his best friend ignoring him. It was worse than how he felt the first time he parted ways with Brock and Misty. That was the first time he'd cried.

"Misty, will you talk to me?"

Misty visibly gritted her teeth and she looked up at him slowly. "Ash," she sighed. "It hurts to talk. It hurts to breathe. So, unless you have some idea of how to make up the past four years, I don't want to talk right now."

"Mist…"

She stood up abruptly. "Not now, Ash." She took out Psyduck's Pokéball and in a flash of red light, he was gone. "I don't know why Psyduck keeps appearing in front of you, but it's not going to get us to talk."

Ash got to his feet and reached forward, taking Misty's arm in his hand.

"Maybe that's why he was here!" he exclaimed.

"Ash, your head is fuller of crap than it usually is," Misty stated. "I'll see you later. I'm training with my Pokémon in the back."

"It wasn't about her, Mist," Ash's voice followed Misty as she made her way down the stairs. She paused for a moment, sighed and continued making her way out of the house back to Oak's reserve.

"So, Ashy-boy," Gary teased, "I heard that you finally got a cheerleader of your own!"

Ash scowled at his childhood friend. "Serena was _not_ a cheerleader, Gary!"

Gary sniggered. "Funny how you knew exactly who I was talking about."

"So, Brock _can't_ keep his trap shut then," Ash grumbled.

"Oh, come on," Gary probed, "what happened?" Ash eyed him suspiciously. "Alright, I'm being sincere now."

"Serena's a Pokémon performer… F. Y. I." Ash crossed his arms, annoyed.

"Well, spill it, then, Ketchum!" Gary said in exasperation.

Ash gawped at Gary. Misty always called him that. His face went downcast and he looked down at his shoes, rubbing his hand behind his neck.

"What?" Gary frowned, sitting up straighter. "What is it?"

"Misty," he said shortly. "She's not speaking to me now."

"Because of the cheerleader?"

"Gary," Ash growled.

"What? Pokémon performer… cheerleader – they're the same thing!" Gary protested, weighing them up in his hands.

"Do you want me to punch you?" Ash asked, his face serious.

"Right, so what went on?"

"If it'll get you stop talking, fine," Ash gave in. "Misty overheard me talking to Brock about Serena… kissing me at the airport. And Misty thinks that's the reason I came to visit her." He shrugged. "To rub it in her face."

"And why would she think that?" Gary frowned.

"You're asking me to tell you how a girl thinks?" Ash looked at him in exasperation.

"Huh, fair point," Gary chuckled.

"It's been four years since I've seen her, Gary," Ash said quietly. "It sounded bad and I know that. I just don't know what to say to her."

"You've been best friends for years, Ash," Gary reminded him. "She'll come to you."

"Thanks, Gary," he smiled weakly.

Ash lay in his sleeping bag uncomfortably on the blow-up bed. He could see Misty's back facing him from on top of his bed. He looked back at the open window where the breeze was gently blowing into his room. He sighed. Misty was already in his bed asleep by the time he'd reached his room. She'd left the bedside light on so he could see what he was doing when he came in. He'd smiled at the gesture, but it hurt that she still hadn't spoken to him since. He considered her peaceful face as she slept, her hand resting on the top of the bedsheets. He really had missed her. He knew he should have visited her more in-between his travels, but it got harder and harder to say goodbye, so he stopped the inevitable pain by not visiting her at all. The problem was that that hurt too.

He got ready for bed quietly, reached over to turn off the light and slid into his sleeping bag. Two hours had passed since and he hadn't once managed to drop off to sleep. He just really wanted to speak to her. She felt further away from him than when he was travelling in Kalos. He sighed and turned over, the bed making an annoying squeak. He turned over again.

"Ash?" Misty's voice whispered to the room, "are you asleep?"

Ash jumped, not expecting her to be awake.

"No," he whispered back, "sorry, did I wake you?"

There was a small pause.

"No," she breathed.

Silence reigned over the room once more. The tension was tangible between them until Ash couldn't take it anymore and rolled over in bed. Misty had silently rolled over and she was watching him struggle. He turned again and dropped both arms either side of his body. He glanced her way and was shocked to see her bright, blue eyes staring at him.

"You don't look comfortable," she observed quietly.

"It's not that," he replied softly.

"What is it?"

"Do you mind if I shut the window?"

"Sure," she answered.

He got up and pulled the window to as quietly as he was able. He turned back to his bed on the floor and felt Misty's gaze on him.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

She hesitated then shifted over in the bed. She pulled the covers back slightly and gestured awkwardly, feeling her pulse race.

"Do you want to join me?" she asked tentatively. "It is, after all, your bed."

"I can't do that," he objected. "It's hardly suitable for two people."

"We're slim people, it's fine," she offered.

Ash hesitated, unsure, then slowly walked over and sat next to her. Misty didn't comment, but instead spoke up about something she knew he wanted to do.

"You wanted to talk to me," she stated.

"Yeah," he agreed quietly, looking down at the redhead.

"Well, I'm awake, so let's see what you got," she exclaimed.

"Look, I'm really sorry, Mist," he apologised, looking at her sadly. "I should have visited you more often, especially after what happened in Kalos, and I don't mean my friends there. You and Brock are the most important people in the world to me and I needed you."

Misty listened to him intently, her eyes not leaving him. Honestly, she couldn't bring herself to speak to him since she'd overheard him talking to Brock. She'd known for years how much she affection she held for him. She remembered how much it sucked to leave him the first time. And she knows how much it sucked to not be with him everyday on their travels. And she knew how much it hurt to never see him over four long years. She hated the idea that another girl appeared to hold the same affection for Ash, if not more, because this girl had the courage to let him know. She hated that she hadn't had that courage. She knew it just wasn't like him to show up because of another girl. She judged him when she knew she shouldn't have. She knew Ash… or she thought she did. She just felt confused.

He sighed and looked down at her. In the moonlight, she looked like a Noctowl with the wide eyes and frown at her temple. He made the spontaneous decision and swung his legs up onto the bed and slid under the covers with her. He rested his head on the pillow next to hers and his deep chocolate brown eyes stared into hers.

"I needed you, Mist," he murmured softly. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. I… missed you over the years." He paused. "It's just… I remember how much it _sucked_ to say goodbye to you the first time. I saw you after my travels in Hoenn when you came to Pallet before I went to the Battle Frontier and it felt _so _good to have you travelling with me, even for a little while. But it _sucked_ to say goodbye to you again." He reached over and tucked a lock of flaming orange hair behind her ears, hearing the little inhale of air from the gym leader. "I didn't want to have to keep saying goodbye to you," he whispered.

"Ash," she breathed. She looked at him and exhaled. "So, how does S-Serena fit into this?"

Ash considered her carefully. The Butterfrees in his stomach was causing some serious discomfort because they were so intense. Yet at the same time, he felt adrenaline rush around his system, and it was exhilarating. He had grown up a lot over the years. Some things had taken longer for him to understand than others. But the events in Kalos had forced him to be braver than ever. He couldn't lose the one thing in his life that he felt he lost, and which was the most important thing in the world to him. Win or lose, he was going to take the gamble.

His right hand came up and gently caressed locks of hair back from her face, his thumb carefully brushing over the smooth skin of her cheek. Misty frowned slightly. She was having a case of the Butterfrees as well, but she also had that feeling of anticipation that made you feel nauseous and excited at the same time. But she couldn't deny that she was nervous. This was _Ash_… and that was the point. He shifted himself closer to her, his right hand moving to behind her ear. He looked into the depths of her eyes and she saw an unfamiliar fire in his eyes. It was so different to the fire he had when he was about to go into a Pokémon battle. Before she could put a name to it, his lips crushed hers gently, bullseye with perfect precision. Her eyes widened, then when his arm encircled her body firmly, they shuttered down and she responded to his kiss. She let herself savour that kiss with him, as she didn't know if it would be her last with him. That scared her. However, in that moment, she forgot everything. It was like mountain's moved and she didn't notice. The world stood perfectly still. All there was, was Ash.

After what felt like an eternity, Ash released her from his grip and leaned back, letting his head fall back onto the pillow.

"It was always you, Mist," he confessed. "When Serena kissed me, I didn't know what to do. I knew only one thing. You were the only person I wanted kissing me." He nudged his nose gently against hers. "You mean everything to me."

"It's been miserable without you, Mr Pokémon Master," she whispered, feeling a hot tear fall from her left eye and sinking into the pillow beneath her head.

"Ditto," he agreed.

They both jumped when they heard a Pokéball open, a flash of light brightening the room momentarily. They both squinted and sat up. Their mouths dropped open when they saw who it was.

"Psy," Misty's closest water Pokémon said, head in his hands.

They watched as the duck Pokémon was enveloped by a bright-coloured light, his form completely hidden from view.


	15. Chapter 15

Author's note: A quick update - not the longest chapter but the next chapter will contain the plot twist which I hope you'll all love! Please, leave reviews. I hope you love the interactions of the characters!

Chapter 15

Misty stumbled out of bed and made her way into the bathroom to brush her teeth. She threw water over her face and looked in the mirror and sighed. Well, this was as good as it was going to get. She rolled her eyes and made her way downstairs. She walked into the kitchen and stopped dead.

"Professor Oak?" she said in disbelief. "What are you doing here at," she glanced at the clock on the wall, "8:30 in the morning?"

Delia whirled round, visibly blanching.

"Misty!" she exclaimed. "Breakfast?"

"Erm, sure, thanks," Misty replied uncertainly, peering at Professor Oak's awkward shifting on the spot. "What were you both doing?"

"Oh, Samuel was just stopping by for a quick hello," Delia breezed.

"To check your teeth at 8:30 in the morning?" Misty asked innocently.

Professor Oak choked on his tea. Ash came round the corner to witness Oak coughing and spluttering, and his eyes widened.

"Wow, are you okay, professor?"

Delia started piling pancakes onto a plate and turned to the table.

"Morning, dear," she greeted her son absentmindedly. Then she looked up at him and her mouth dropped open. "Oh my, Ash! What happened to your face?"

Ash and Misty looked at each other awkwardly.

"Ash? Misty?" Delia frowned, looking between the two questioningly.

"Okay, so last night, something happened…" Misty started.

_Psyduck was enveloped by a familiar bright-coloured light, his form completely hidden from view. The glow of light grew and after a tense moment, the light died._

_"Golduck," the blue, bipedal, duck-like Pokémon said, standing tall with its webbed appendages posed at his sides._

_"Psyduck?" Misty whispered, eyes wide, her face full of disbelief. She shook Ash's shoulder roughly. "Ash, do you know what this means?!"_

_"You'll stop yelling at him?" Ash joked._

_She rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot," she replied flatly. "Now, move!"_

_"I'm your idiot," he teased._

_"You have been since day one," she said as a matter of fact, "now, move!"_

_She pushed Ash so hard that he fell out of bed, colliding with his bedside cabinet. Misty leaped over him without a second thought, throwing her arms around Golduck._

_"You evolved! You evolved!" she sang. "I have a Golduck!" She hugged him fiercely, Golduck's face showing great pleasure at the affection he was receiving._

_She heard a groan and looked over her shoulder. Ash had his hand covering his nose, his eyes scrunched up in pain._

_"Oh my God!" Misty exclaimed. "Are you okay?"_

_"Oh yeah," he answered. "I relish the feeling of blood dripping out of my nose."_

_Misty kneeled at his side and pulled his hand away gently. She bit her lip._

_"I'll go get you some ice," she told him._

_"Why do I need ice? Get me some tissue," he emphasised, "please!"_

_Misty raced back into his room as quietly as possibly to avoid waking Ash's mother. She flew to his side and threw tissue at him._

_"Hold still," she ordered him, bringing her hand up to hold a towel full of ice to his cheek._

_"Oh, ow!" Ash complained. "What is that?"_

_"Ice for your cheek," she said. "You hit your cheekbone and you're swelling up. Now keep your face forward until your nose stops bleeding, or you'll end up with blood going to the back of your throat."_

_After a moment of silence, Ash looked up at Misty gingerly. "Thanks, Mist," he said. A small smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "What?"_

_"I've just missed you calling me that," she told him, pressing the ice to his cheek more firmly._

_"I've always called you that," Ash frowned, checking his tissue briefly._

_"Exactly," Misty nodded. "You were the only one."_

_Ash brushed locks of her hair behind her ear and pecked her on the cheek._

_"I'd hope so," he said._

_"Golduck," the newly evolved Pokémon replied, a smirk clear on his face._

"Your Psyduck evolved?" Professor Oak gasped, leaping forward.

"Sure did!" Misty grinned, bringing out her Pokéball, calling him out. In a beam of light, the blue duck Pokémon appeared in front of them.

"Fascinating," Oak smiled, bending down to Golduck, who looked back at him with equal interest.

"Oh, is that what that noise was last night?" Delia asked.

"Yes," Ash and Misty said in unison.

"Why are you blushing?" Delia challenged, looking between them.

"Do you know what caused Psyduck to evolve?" Oak interrupted. "Or I suppose we should say Golduck now."

"We, err," Ash mumbled.

"Morning!" Brock's voice resonated through the house, the sound of the front door closing.

He walked into the kitchen and looked at the scene before him. Oak crouched in front of a Golduck, Misty sat at the table with a stack of pancakes in front of her, Delia stood in front of Ash peering at her son. He noted the blushing faces of his two best friends and the noticeable lack of argument in the air. Then his mouth dropped open.

"No way!" he yelled. "You guys!"

He moved forward, gently pushing Delia to the side and threw his arms around Misty tightly and turning to slap Ash on the back in brotherly affection. His two friends gawped at him and glanced at each other.

"Brock, what's up with you?" Delia asked, stunned.

"You seriously haven't said anything?" Brock asked his two companions.

"What do you mean?" Ash asked awkwardly.

"Oh guys, come on, it's obvious!" he looked at Oak and Delia, then pointed at Golduck. He whirled around to Misty. "That's Psyduck?!" Misty nodded. "He evolved. Oh wow, even he knew!"

"Brock?" Oak said his name in exasperation.

"They finally got together!" Brock sang with a flourish.

Delia and Oak's eyebrows shot up into their hairline and it was their turn for their mouths to drop open.

"Excuse me?" Delia asked. "It finally happened?" She squealed. "Oh, Ash dear," she cooed, kissing him on the cheek.

"Ow, mom!" he winced. "The cheek!"

Misty bit her lip. "That was really my fault," she mumbled.

"So, nothing's changed there," Brock winked.

"Wait, how did you know?" Misty asked with a frown.

"You think I don't know what love looks like?" Brock laughed.

Ash's eyes widened.

"Hey, Ashy-boy," Gary teased, plonking himself down next to his childhood friend. "I hear that you finally got it together with our little Spitfire!"

"God, Brock really _can't_ keep his trap shut," Ash grumbled to himself. "Wait, what did you just call her?"

"A short-tempered redhead," Gary shrugged.

"I dare you to call her that to her face," Ash challenged him.

"Oh please!" Gary snorted. "I have more balls than you, but I don't want to die!"

"What do you want anyway?" Ash pressed his lips together.

"We want to know when Psyduck evolved," Brock said as he sat between them, effectively pushing Gary to the side.

"That is some mom hip you got going on," Gary muttered, shifting himself into an upright seat.

"Come on, Ash," Brock nudged him, ignoring Gary, "I'm your best friend. Tell me!"

"I just, you know," Ash hedged, "I told her I missed her."

"That all?" Gary asked, unimpressed.

"And I kissed her," Ash blurted out.

"Well, it's about time," Tracey said, sitting on the other side of Ash. "Look at this drawing of Golduck!" He shoved his sketchpad under Ash's nose enthusiastically.

"Alright, I've already had one nosebleed, I don't need another!" Ash protested, slapping Tracey's drawings out of the way. "Wait, is that Misty?"

Ash pulled back the sketchpad, but Tracey hastily pulled it back.

"What? No!" he insisted.

Brock's brow furrowed and he leaned over, swiping the pad out of Tracey's hands. Then he snorted.

"That's Daisy!" he smirked. "Does she know you drew this?"

"Yes," he replied meekly.

"Ha – nice!" Gary applauded.

"Tacky," Ash coughed under his breath.

"_Anyway_," Tracey pressed, "so you're saying that Psyduck evolved after you and Misty…"

"Got physical?" Gary suggested.

Ash reached around Brock and punched him in the arm.

"It wasn't like that," he snapped.

"Alright," Gary granted, "big girl."

"I don't know," Ash continued, "I guess it was just intense and Psyduck appeared and before we know it, he evolved!"

The three guys stared at him, mouths slightly agape, then in perfect synchronicity, they nodded.

"Huh," Brock responded, "well, that explains everything."

"What?" Ash demanded.

"Psyduck's behaviour," Tracey elaborated. "He's really close to Misty, whether she admits it or not. And he's got psychic traits. And you know, Pokémon kind of adopt their trainer's characteristics and personality. They even pick up on their trainer's moods."

"Are you saying that Psyduck liked me like Chikorita?"

Brock snorted. "No one likes you like Chikorita."

"No," Tracey replied patiently. "He knows Misty inside and out. He picked up on how unhappy she is after she stopped travelling with you and he must have picked up on a change in her. So, he evolved."

"So, I'm the reason Misty has a Golduck?" Ash asked proudly.

"Pipe down, Ashy-boy," Gary poked him.

"Have you thought about what you're going to do next?" Brock asked him. Ash frowned at him clueless. "About you and Misty."

"I have one or two ideas," he grinned. He filled in the guys and each of them nodded enthusiastically, equally impressed, even Gary had no sarcastic retort to torment his childhood friend with.


	16. Chapter 16

Author's note: This is the final chapter of this story - an epilogue could come later, but this is the ending of the main body of this story. Thank you SO much to all of my reviewers and those who have stayed with me and given their support. I've loved writing this story and I hope you've loved reading it. I hope you enjoyed the plot twist that I added in at the end of this story. I hope to see you in future fanfics!

A dedication: I wanted to give a huge shout out to Acanthus Addams, who is a fellow Pokéshipping fan and a huge supporter of writers who do this shipping justice. His stories are epic - check them out. A huge thank you to this writer for supporting my writing and being an epic penpal.

Chapter 16

Gary descended the stairs in search of his grandpa and turned the corner upon reaching the bottom to enter Professor Oak's office where he could be found in the midst of writing research papers. He entered and immediately retreated, checking the name on the door. It read _Professor Oak's Office_, so he entered once again and frowned. What the heck was Ash doing in here?

"Hey, Ash," he greeted uncertainly.

Ash whirled around and made shooing gestures hastily. Gary, taken aback, retreated once again and pulled the door to. As he turned, he bumped into a figure, but he managed to remain upright.

"Steady on there, my boy," Professor Oak scolded gently.

"Oh, grandpa!" Gary replied in surprise. "I'm sorry – you alright?"

"Of course," Oak nodded. He glanced at his door. "Were you looking for me?"

"Yep," Gary told him. He thumbed back at the door. "Why is Ash in there?"

"I told him he could use it for the morning while he's sorting some things out," Oak said absentmindedly, as he shuffled some papers in his hands.

"Ah, so Ashy-boy _isn't_ all mouth and no trousers then," Gary smirked, impressed.

Oak stared at his grandson in disbelief. "Honestly, Gary," he commented, "you are so much like your father."

They both jumped at the loud exclamation of _awesome! _coming from Professor Oak's office and they exchanged glances. Oak gestured for Gary to follow him through to the lab.

"Come on, my boy," he said, "let's get talking about your research then through in the lab and leave Ash to it."

Brock peered over Tracey's shoulder at his latest drawing.

"Wow," he said in amazement. "You know, you're getting really good, Tracey. That looks exactly like Sudowoodo. You can tell that's my Pokémon."

Tracey smiled. "Professor Oak has been a tremendous help."

"I can imagine," Brock nodded. "You really like it here, don't you?"

"Sure do!" Tracey confirmed enthusiastically. "There's so many Pokémon that live on the reserve that there's always something to learn and the professor is the _best_ mentor."

"Glad to hear it, Tracey," Brock said, clapping him on the back. He paused, staring at the drawing. "Hey, can I keep that?"

Tracey raised his eyebrows. "Sure. Do you mind if I draw another of Sudowoodo, so I have a copy for my portfolio?"

"If Sudowoodo is, then no problem," Brock agreed. He looked over at Sudowoodo. "Are you okay for another picture?"

"Sudowoodo," the rock type agreed, saluting his trainer, for a reason no one could understand.

"Great, thanks, Sudowoodo!" Tracey grinned, immediately starting on a fresh piece of paper.

"So, tell me, how is it at the Cerulean Gym?" Brock asked. Tracey looked at him with a slight furrow at his brow. "Oh, Professor Oak told me that you go there to help out Misty from time to time."

"Yeah," Tracey said slowly. He sighed and put his pencil down, resting his pad on his knee. "It's hard for her. She loves being the gym leader and training water Pokémon. She's had some great battles and she's gotten stronger. She's even added to the gym's collection. But she misses travelling. She doesn't say much but she does." He bit his lip. "It was difficult to have such a change in her life. I hope Ash can help her get out of the same cycle she's been in."

"What do you mean?" Brock frowned.

"She once told me that everyday at the gym was the same," Tracey told him. "When she travelled with you guys, there was always something new going on. I remember it well too." He smiled fondly. "There was always something memorable round the corner. But with a gym, Misty told me that it was the same day, different challenger. I guess she felt her dreams were put on hold." He shrugged. "Or thrown out the flaming window, were the words she used."

Brock chuckled. "Yeah, that sounds like our Misty."

"Her sisters don't make it any easier," Tracey smiled tentatively, "so I help out where I can."

Brock smirked. "I bet you do!"

"What?" Tracey asked, a faint blush rising in his cheeks.

"Well, from what I know, when you sketch a girl, you're either a major creep or you have the hots for her," Brock said knowingly, a slightly glint in his eye.

"_From what you know_," Tracey quoted. "Oh please! I'm surprised Officer Jenny hasn't given you multiple restraining orders by now, many of whom from herself and her extended family!"

"Alright!" Brock laughed, visibly sweat dropping. "So come on, are you and Daisy together?"

"I try not to say anything," Tracey shrugged. "I don't want to upset Misty."

"You two had a thing?"

"What? No!" Tracey replied, horrified. "I'm just saying that her sisters always got everything Misty ever wanted and when I know Misty's not happy, I don't want to shove that kind of thing in her face."

"You're a good guy, Trace," Brock nodded. "I'm sure your girlfriend agrees."

Tracey gave him a goodhearted whack round the head with his sketchpad.

Ash scanned the Pokémon reserve, squinting slightly in the bright sunlight. His eyes caught a flicker of orange over by the lake and he rolled his eyes at his stupidity. Of course, the water should be the first place to check. He strolled over the open grass, passing some of his own Pokémon on the way. He caught sight of Misty, knee-deep in water with Golduck, her Goldeen swimming circles with her two Seaking, her Staryu and Starmie doing lengths around the lake. He caught sight of Seadra's spiny pectoral fins poking out of the water. He reached the water's edge and Misty looked up with a welcoming smile.

"Hi Ash," she waved, droplets of water flying in every direction from her hand.

"Hey, Mist," he murmured, crouching down to greet Seadra who came forward to see him. "Are you ever not in the water?"

"Sure," Misty snorted, "when I catch wind of my sisters trying to give gym badges away!"

"I bet," Ash grinned, standing up. He hesitated then reached for Misty. "Are you gonna come for lunch?"

She paused, staring at his outstretched hand.

"Sure," she smirked. "One sec'." She crouched down to speak to her Pokémon swimming around her and Ash watched as each of them swam away from her, except Golduck. She looked up and smiled. "Alright, let's go. Help me?"

Ash offered his hand to her to help her get out of the water but instead she yanked him towards her and true to form, he went face first into water. Misty burst out laughing as his head emerged from the water, a strip of salveyo weed sat on the top of his head. He glared at her and promptly reached up and pulled her into the clear lake with him, resulting in a large splash, covering them both as she landed in his lap. He grinned at her triumphantly.

"Well, that wasn't very lady like," he commented.

"And you're not a gentleman," she replied.

"You started it!"

"I shan't be humouring you with a 'did not', 'did too' match," she poked him in the chest.

"Well, I'd win," he smirked.

She rolled her eyes and pushed herself off him, standing up.

"You're lucky this lake is so clean," she told him.

"Well, if it wasn't, I wouldn't have salveyo weed in my hair," he complained. "What did you do that for?"

"To show you how great the water is!" Misty stated.

"You could have told me that without throwing me in headfirst!"

"It's not my fault you lack coordination," Misty replied.

Ash stepped out of the lake and turned to her, offering her his hand again.

"Now without pulling me in again, I need you to come with me," he said.

"Is food all you think about?" Misty sighed, accepting his hand and climbing out, picking up a towel and throwing it round her neck. She offered a second towel to him which he accepted.

"You'd be surprised at what I think about," Ash murmured.

Misty raised her eyebrows at him and they both sat on the grass, the heat of the day slowly drying them off.

"So, what's up, Ash?" Misty asked.

Ash fidgeted for a few moments, not really sure how to proceed. Misty's hand fell on top of his and squeezed it. He looked up and his eyes met her curious cerulean blue orbs.

"Look," he swallowed, "I really want to ask what it is you want to do now."

"I presumed lunch, but I guess that's not what you're asking?" Misty concluded.

"I really want you to travel with me again," Ash blurted out.

"Ash…" Misty trailed off.

"Yeah, I know you're the gym leader, but hear me out," he asked.

"If you're going to ask me if I can get my sisters to cover, then the answer is no," she replied firmly. "Even now they try to hand out gym badges for free and that violates the point of the gyms."

"Yes, I know but…" Ash continued.

"But nothing," Misty interrupted.

"Misty, I just," Ash tried again.

"Ash, my sisters aren't going near that gym as leaders again," Misty insisted. "I'm amazed they managed to run it while I was away travelling. They're not dependable."

"Mist!" he shouted over her, pressing the palm of his hand over her mouth gently. "Let me speak, please!" He waited for her to nod, wide eyed, allowing him to proceed. "I want you to travel with me again. I know your sisters are not an option and I wasn't going to suggest them." He freed Misty's mouth from his hand, and he let his hands run through his hair, pushing his hat off his head. "You're not happy leading the gym." Misty made to open her mouth and he glared at her, for once, effectively shutting her up. "Psyduck knew it." He pointed at Golduck paddling in the lake. "That's the result." He flicked his fingers in turn pointing at each of them. "And we are why." He sighed. "Look, I've been thinking about what I wanted to do next. Honestly, when I came back from Kalos, I had no idea what I wanted to do next, except see you again. I reflected on my journey since I started out as a trainer and there was one time that I was truly successful: at the Orange League Championships. It wasn't the same after you left, Mist. I got _so_ close to winning the Lumiose Conference, so close." He looked at her. "I got so much stronger as a trainer but… I need you. You make me better."

Misty watched him silently, uncertainly.

"I'm really not good at this kind of thing," Ash chuckled awkwardly, running his fingers through his dark hair. "Maybe I shouldn't have done this without speaking to you first, but I want this to be your decision. Taking over the Cerulean gym was never your dream and it wasn't your choice. I want this to be your choice." He fidgeted in his seat again. "I want to travel to Sinnoh again, with you. I'm stronger now than I was when I first went there and competed in the Lily of the Valley conference. I want to compete again, and I want to battle the Elite Four and then challenge Cynthia, the Sinnoh Champion. There's a whole population of water Pokémon you've never seen, and I'd love for you to see them for yourself."

Misty bit her lip and frowned.

"Ash, where are you going with this?" she asked. "You're not usually such a rambler."

"Do you remember Dorian, the water Pokémon trainer, who runs the unofficial Coastline gym on the eastern shores of the Johto region?" Misty nodded. "The gym is having major works done on the battle arena and he's going through the process of having the gym confirmed and being awarded the title of giving out badges accepted for entering the Silver Conference. Anyway, this isn't a quick process and I knew he was a huge fan of the Cerulean Gym and visits regularly to get inspiration for a water gym of his own. I called him." Misty's eyebrows raised. "I asked him if was interested in standing in as a gym leader of the Cerulean Gym if you were to be away for a period of time."

"Seriously?" Misty asked, taken aback.

Ash nodded. "He could stand in as interim gym leader of Cerulean for two years. He would bring his Pokémon from Johto, which would attract interest in Kanto for earning the Cascade badge and this could be a real opportunity for everyone."

Misty's mouth was agape as she was considering the real possibility that Ash wasn't messing around with her. Ash peered at her as he watched a myriad of emotions pass over her face and he reached up tentatively to brush strands of damp hair behind her ear. He left his hand at her neck and he leaned closer to her.

"Misty?" he murmured, hoping not to startle her.

Her eyes looked up into his chocolate brown ones and he noted how shiny they appeared. He recognised this as excitement on her part and he smiled.

"What are you thinking?"

"You know, I kind of love you, Ash Ketchum," she beamed. His eyes widened as she flung her arms round his neck and they fell backwards onto the grass. "Yes! I absolutely accept!"

Ash was now flat on his back and gazing up with a smile at the red head beaming down at him.

"I've gotta say that I'm relieved!" Ash laughed. "I just wanted this to be your choice."

"And I choose you," Misty smiled, pecking him on the lips, pushing herself off him and standing up. She offered him her hand and he took it. Then he yanked her towards him, and her eyes widened momentarily as she fell into his lap. He looked down at her and smiled softly. "I'm never going to be the best at this, but you're my best friend, Misty. The best in every way possible."

"Careful, Ketchum," Misty smiled, "the blush won't match my hair."

Ash pulled them both up off the floor and guided her towards the Oak lab where his mother insisted that they all dine together. This was as good a time as any to announce what their next plans were together. As Ash walked side by side with Misty, he looked at his best friend of eight years and felt the flutter of Butterfrees in his stomach again. It suddenly struck him what name that feeling was.

"You know, I kind of love you too," he grinned.

"What was that, Mr Pokémon Master?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"You heard me," he smiled, tickling her side before taking off to the lab as quick as he could.

"You get back here, Ketchum!" she ordered, chasing after him.

Golduck followed behind them, his nose guiding him in the direction of Brock's delicious Pokéfood that he remembered so well. He watched his beloved trainer race ahead to catch up with the young trainer she'd held affection for so many years. It had been so long since he'd seen that shine in her eyes and he couldn't help but be grateful for Ash, finally opening his eyes to what was always in front of him.


	17. Epilogue

Author's note: I thought it'd be fun to see how Ash and Misty were getting on in their travels together. I hope you enjoy! Please, as always, leave me reviews. Look out for my spin off story focusing on Gary and Dawn - there may be some pokéshipping cameos!

Epilogue

"I'm going to _kill_ you, Ash Ketchum!" Misty whispered angrily at the dark-haired trainer crouched at her side.

"Come on," Ash protested under his breath, "it's not so bad!"

"Not so bad?" Misty grumbled. "Not so bad? We're stuck in a cave because _you_ just _had _to bring Gabite out for some so-called much needed training in the mountains where rock Pokémon live. You _know_ that rock Pokémon take damage from dragon types!"

"You have water type Pokémon," Ash reminded her. "Why didn't you bring them out?"

"Because we had seven Onix chasing us through the mountains, you brainless twerp," Misty snapped.

"Twerp? Seriously? You're going there?"

"Maybe Team Rocket was onto something," Misty replied.

Ash made to open his mouth for a smart-assed reply, but a deafening roar interrupted them. They peeked over the rocks they were hiding behind and saw rocks flying in every direction. Ash's head shot round to the fuming red head.

"Quick, pass me your Pokeballs!" he urged.

"Ash," she seethed, "I can't get to my Pokeballs. In case you haven't noticed, we're cramped in this tiny hell hole."

"Well, where are they? I'll see if I can reach them," Ash suggested.

"They're around my waist, by my right jean's pocket," Misty told him.

"Alright, hold on," Ash said, shifting himself slightly as quietly as possible.

His arm encircled Misty's waist and he ran his hand down her side to locate her waist, causing Misty to squirm. She glared at him and he grinned. He found her belt that held her Pokeballs and then he jumped when another roar rumbled through the cave, causing his fingers to brush up her spine. Misty squealed and she immediately clapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes widening. They stared at each other in alarm.

"Ash, quick," she pressed, turning her body and gesturing to her Pokebelt.

Without hesitation, Ash reached down and yanked her belt from her waist, they took three Pokeballs each and threw them in the air, calling forth the Pokémon that lay from within them. In a bright glow of light, Politoed, Azurill, Corsola, Starmie, Caserin and Golduck appeared before them. Ash immediately threw his Pokeball to bring out Totodile who shot out a water gun to help Caserin to attack the oncoming Onix.

Two of the Onix caused a rockslide, freeing Ash and Misty from their tiny hiding hole. A third Onix aimed an iron tail at them and Ash pushed Misty out of the way, diving after her. Ash shouted orders to the Pokémon, letting Misty in on some tricks he'd learned over the years travelling with Pokémon coordinators. Misty followed Ash's example, ordering her Pokémon to carry out combination attacks, causing a few of the Onix to back away as water was sprayed in every which way direction.

Suddenly, the largest of the group of Onix shot out of the ground behind Misty. She whirled around and winced, as her foot slipped from under her, the water having dampened the cave.

"Mist!" Ash shouted. He looked around and found who he was looking for. "Golduck!" The blue duck Pokémon turned to see his master and with no hesitation, leapt to the red head's side and promptly used his hydro pump, knocking the huge Onix back.

"Golduck, confusion!" Misty ordered, holding her ankle.

Golduck's eyes glowed a hypnotic blue and the two trainers watched as the seven Onix were sent flying out of the cave. Ash shot to Misty's side.

"Are you alright?" he asked concerned.

"I slipped and I think I sprained my ankle," Misty sighed, wincing as Ash moved her hand off of it.

"Come on," Ash said, standing up and taking her under the elbow to help her up. "There's a Pokémon Centre down the road."

"I can't walk on this!" Misty protested.

"I could carry you?" Ash teased, his arm round her waist as she leaned on him.

"You must be joking," Misty scoffed, unimpressed. "Knowing you, I'd end up in a mud pit."

"Have a little faith, Mist!" Ash said, offended. Then he tweaked her nose. "I have a better idea."

He reached for two of his Pokéballs and threw them in turn. Noctowl emerged first and next followed Pidgeot in a bright beam of light. Misty smiled at the two birds that fluttered down to the ground in front of them. Pidgeot was stronger than ever. Three years ago, when Ash and Misty were leaving Kanto to travel together to Sinnoh, they made a pitstop just outside of Pallet Town where Pidgeot still resided and Ash finally fulfilled his promise to his old friend. Pidgeot joined them on their travels through Sinnoh and became one of his strongest Pokémon, helping Ash to battle and win against all of the gym leaders in the region for the second time and finally win the Lily of the Valley conference.

They were now going through vigorous training to challenge the Elite Four before Ash has a chance to battle Cynthia. Needless to say, both Ash and Misty got stronger on their travels. A year into travelling in Sinnoh, Misty caught her very own Piplup, though not one quite as proud as Dawn's penguin partner. Dorian was a partner with the Cerulean Gym, thus allowing Misty to continue travelling with Ash longer than the original two years. He was, much to Misty's disbelief, also partnered with Lily, who Dorian had once upon a time commented on that the vibrant-haired water specialist was prettier than the feisty redhead, resulting in their first underwater challenge. Lily had taken on a more active role as a gym leader as Daisy, who was usually Misty's second in command at the gym, was spending a lot more time with a certain Pokémon watcher. Misty was pleasantly surprised that Dorian was a positive influence on the youngest of three sensational sisters and that gym was maintaining it's prestigious title in Kanto. Much to Misty's dismay, last year, Lily requested to have Piplup at the gym to challenge and surprise Kanto trainers with a water Pokémon not native to the region. Only out of her gym leader pride did she grudgingly oblige.

Ash helped Misty onto Pidgeot's back and he hopped on behind her. They took flight with Noctowl spotting behind them and made their way easily to the Pokémon Centre where Nurse Joy helped to strap up Misty's ankle.

"Thanks, Nurse Joy," Misty called as the gentle nurse left the room to see to the various Pokémon populating the centre.

Ash smiled and came over to Misty's bedside and sat down.

"Well, that was fun," he grinned.

Misty frowned.

"You are such an idiot, Ash Ketchum," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, come on!" he wheedled, "it's just like old times!"

"Old times was when we were ten or eleven," Misty argued. "We're 21 now and you're still just as impulsive and reckless as ever. This is what, the third time I've ended up in a hospital bed this year?"

"Okay, the dislocated shoulder was _not_ my fault!" Ash defended himself. "You're the one who wanted to dive into that lake for that Vaporeon."

"And you're the one who failed to help me get out of the water when it got away!" Misty huffed. "For the record, it was totally _your _fault when that Shellos hit me in the face, causing that fall that broke my wrist because your training was atrocious that day."

"Hey hey hey!" Ash said in alarm. "It worked out fine!"

"I couldn't swim for six weeks, Ash," she stated. "Six weeks! Do you know what it's like to not go in the water for _six _weeks?!"

"Like going four years without me?" Ash asked impulsively.

"It was a calmer time," Misty said deadpan.

Ash looked at his grumpy girlfriend of almost four years and stood up. He leaned over the bed, resting his head on her arm.

"Are you really okay?" he asked, serious.

Misty looked down at Ash, her face softening.

"Of course, I am, Ash," she smiled. She shifted herself over, leaving space at the side of her and Ash jumped up onto the bed with her, lying on his side.

"I'm sorry," he apologised, sounding the sincerest she'd heard him in a long time. "I wanted to take you somewhere tomorrow, but we can't go down there with your sprained ankle."

"Where was it?" Misty asked, curious.

"I wanted it to be a surprise, but I want everyday of your life on this journey to be as good as the last and I doubt another injury counts as a good day," he rambled. He took a steady breath. "There's a lake a mile out from here. I figured it's time that you add a Tentacruel to your water Pokémon collection. I don't want to take the experience of catching one away from you."

Misty's bright cerulean blue eyes lit up instantly. She carefully turned onto her side to face Ash directly, attempting to avoid aggravating her ankle and she smiled at him in genuine joy.

"That sounds amazing!" she exclaimed eagerly. "Nurse Joy said I should be better in a few days. Maybe we can go then?"

Ash nodded, reaching up slowly to kiss Misty chastely on the forehead. He came back down to rest his head on the pillow with her.

"For the record, Mr Pokémon Master," Misty murmured, "I wouldn't have our journey any other way. Never change. It's why I fell for you in the first place."

"I promise we'll minimise any possible injuries in the future," Ash assured her.

"I'll take you up on that," Misty laughed.

"We should visit Brock next month," Ash told her. "He'll be visiting the Pokémon Centre in Celestic Town to work with Nurse Joy there. We'll be passing by Lake Psyduck, so I figure it'd be good for Golduck to get out for a swim there."

"Yeah, sounds like a great idea," Misty nodded into the pillow, closing her eyes.

Ash smiled faintly at her. A lot had happened in the past couple of years, one of which was Brock's qualification as a Pokémon doctor. As of this year, he was into his first year in practice and he was looking into working in various centres across the regions to get experience with many types of Pokémon. Croagunk was still keeping an eye on him but his relationship with the cousin of the Nurse Joy family eventually blossomed into something more and Brock finally found himself committing to one girl. However, it was pure luck that he was in Sinnoh practicing medicine so his two best friends could meet up with him, just like old times.

Ash regularly keeps in touch with Gary. There was no change on his front though. He was currently travelling through Unova where he knew Dawn had been travelling for a time. However, nothing new seemed to have changed there. Though, that's another story.

Misty was now fast asleep. Ash leaned over and pushed his lips gently against hers. He noticed Misty smile in her sleep as he relaxed back into the bed, leaving his arm encircling her. He brushed her bangs out of her eyes and he closed his eyes contentedly. Their journey had been a wacky and wonderful one, not unlike their previous travels together and that's what made it all the more epic. Ash went to sleep, happy in the knowledge that Misty was happier than she ever was, travelling in the world they loved, meeting more Pokémon than they could have imagined, getting stronger every day, hearing the news that their friends had many more exciting times ahead of them.


End file.
